A Lot Can Happen in a Year
by thecagedsong
Summary: Lucy lost Aquarius. Lucy lost Natsu. Like hell was she going to lose Fairy Tail too, if no one else will step up to the plate, she will, and she's going to pull her family up with her. Fairy Tail isn't disbanding with her around. AU based on chapter 416, one way Fairy Tail could pull itself together after the effects of Tartarus. Lucy Centric.
1. Lucy Does What She Wants

**A/N: So, I was completely broken after I learned about Natsu leaving for a year. This is what I did to deal with the feelings. I haven't read the latest chapter, because I wanted to get this up first after spending so much time working on it, but that makes this an AU of what could have happened during the year. Enjoy!**

Loke hurried through the woods, looking for a girl. Now, this wasn't very unusual for the spirit, ever since his three year stint on earth, but he wasn't looking for a date. Lucy's emotions had been broadcasting over the celestial world for the past minute, meaning it had been hours of agony for Lucy. Normally he wouldn't have waited this long to force his gate, but he knew Lucy still had her keys and hadn't tried to summon any of his family, he didn't perceive it as a physical threat.

Then it had been a full minute his time of her emotions screaming in agony and he pushed through to help his friend. He found her, sitting on the ground, yelling for Natsu. She looked scratched and muddy, but the croaking sound of her voice was the worst. She had to have been yelling for hours.

"Come on Lucy, it's time to go home," he told her gently, guessing at what had happened. Loke had watched Natsu and the others for three years, they mourned alone and gave little warning. Lucy was the opposite, she held herself together for other people and only with other people. He knelt to help her up, she had finally stopped croaking Natsu's name, only to have her fall against him.

"Lucy? Are you hurt?"

"M-my ankle," Lucy admitted, gasping a little. Her left ankle was swollen, she must have tripped running after Natsu. Loke sighed and easily swept up his master into a bridal carry. She clutched at his suit, letting out little gasps, as he murmured comforting nonsense. He wanted to get angry at something, to go punch something so she wouldn't feel any more pain, but that wasn't what she needed. Lucy needed to be held and reminded that she wasn't alone, so that's what he did.

The princess fell asleep about ten minutes into their walk home, and Loke was glad. When she woke up she would be stronger, and that was the part of Lucy that made him happy to see. She was sensitive, so he knew it was impossible for her to move on completely, but Lucy had never been one to let sadness keep her from acting. She would have died a long time ago if it did.

Her front door had been left wide open, so Loke walked right in and set her on the bed. She woke up when he was removing her shoes, and there was another round of crying that had Loke contemplating the many methods of murdering dragon slayers, before he suggested she take a bath. Lucy looked so lost and confused, he picked her up again and set her on the edge of the bathtub, turning on the water and leaving.

"Thank you Loke," Lucy said quietly as he shut the door behind him. He smiled at her, but she didn't see it. When she came out of the bathroom half an hour later, she changed quickly, wincing at her foot. Loke made her sit on the edge of the bed and wrapped the ankle, which was a dark purple now.

"Go to sleep now Lucy," Loke said, when she had stared at his bandage job for a full five minutes. He startled her, and she looked shyly away. He supposed being helpless for a little while was better than her trying to shut him out. Loke actually liked taking care of her, it felt right to give something more into this relationship. Compared to everything she had given him, these acts of service were nothing.

He would be happier to go beat up whatever was causing her pain in the first place, but he would settle for this.

"Okay," she whispered, pulling up her covers. He turned off the light and started to put her forgotten groceries away, familiar with the kitchen from all the times she had had him over for dinner. On the ground was the note Lucy had been clutching while he had carried her home. Reading it, he sighed and found an extra blanket to sleep on the couch with. He would not let Lucy feel alone, ever.

The next morning:

"Loke, get up you silly lion," Lucy said, waving a plate of fresh pancakes in front of his face. "Come on, I need to thank you." She poked his cheek and he started to stir.

"Lucy? What's going on?" He said confusedly. Lucy giggled when she noticed his hair was stuck up in a truly messy fashion, not the fake messy he did every time she summoned him.

"I made you pancakes, I know you didn't have to stay the night, but thank you." He followed her back to the kitchen table, and both of them enjoyed a yummy, if slightly awkward breakfast.

"I saw the note," Loke said, as he helped do the dishes, "what are you going to do now?" Lucy tensed for a moment, and Loke went on alert for the first time that morning. She couldn't deny she had cried a little bit when she woke up and remembered everything. But Lucy knew she couldn't make her spirits worry like that again. Only the wimpy minor characters fell apart when their guy left and pined for him the entire time he went and made something of himself. She refused to be that person, but that didn't mean Lucy knew what she was going to do, or stop mourning him. The only thing on her mind was that she needed to keep busy.

"No idea, but I'll probably head to the guild after I get dressed. See if there are any jobs I can go on with Erza, unless she took off too," Loke nodded and Lucy realized that the last time she had seen her lion spirit was in Algeria and…oh look something else she was still mourning. The tears started to come again, and she could see Loke start to panic. How could any of her spirits ever trust her again? She sacrificed her friendship with Aquarius for more power, she was a monster.

"Lucy, what's wrong? I'm sure Erza hasn't left yet." He was panicking, and for all the wrong reasons.

"How can you still care about me?" Lucy sobbed, covering her face, "After what happened…" Loke looked confused.

"What happened? Which part? A lot of things happened, but there is no way I could ever stop caring for you," he pulled Lucy into a hug and she smelled the celestial world on him. He knew what to do with crying girls once upon a time, but it seemed forever ago since before he became Leo again. He patted her back and she cried louder, making him wince even as she clutched at his shirt.

"I-I broke Aquarius's key, she can't ever come to-to Earthland again, Momma gave me her key and told me to protect her at all costs, and now I-I'll never see her again!" One day Loke would get tired of her sobbing all the time, Lucy knew it, but she had a lot of things to break down over, hopefully he would give her a break for just this week.

"Aquarius is just fine," Loke comforted, "She and Scorpio have been having a lot of alone time, and I won't say she doesn't miss you, but you did something no one else ever has. You, Lucy of Fairy Tail, you gave her a choice. Celestial spirits rarely get to be the heroes, except me of course, but that day Aquarius was. She chose to let you save Fairy Tail because she knew that would make you happier, and she loves you enough that when you're happy, she is happy. Now, you aren't going to dishonor her sacrifice, are you?"

Hic* "She wouldn't like that," Lucy said, though her tears, "she would also hate that I'm crying." Lucy dried her face as Loke released her from his hug.

"No, you're right, she wouldn't, I want to be able to go back and honestly tell her that you are recovering well and making her proud." Lucy smiled, and blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry about all the crying, it's been a rough week."

"Cry all you want, I'll be here to help you out of it." Loke smiled and Lucy felt better, more whole. No one in Fairy Tail knew what she had done for them, her sacrifices, and if she had it her way, no one would know for a very long time. Lucy didn't want pity, she was the strong, slightly (incredibly) broken main female character remember? She didn't need their pity.

Loke wiped some of the last of the tears off her face, "Okay, now go change your shirt and I'll head with you down to the guild."

"You don't have to do that," Lucy blushed, "you've already done more than enough."

"And risk you breaking down ten steps from your friends and running away to where I have to find you again? No thanks, just let me help take care of you for a little bit, it's what friends do for each other." For a second Loke thought she would insist, but instead Lucy nodded and went to her room to change her shirt. She considered for a moment her usual blue vest, heart tube top, and detached sleeves, but she felt like she had out grown that outfit. Instead she dawned a purple long-sleeved shirt and black pleated skirt. She would go out there and work until she was exhausted. Things happened in life, this wasn't harder than her mom dying, than making the decision to shoot herself across the sky, than her dad dying after she lost seven years of her life, than having Fairy Tail destroyed the first time around. It was just all happening at once, but she could take it, she was Lucy of Fairy Tail.

Loke walked with her to the guild, and Lucy did not have a mental break down on the way there. Lucy had visited the guild hall ruins the day after they won the war, but aside from that had been taking a couple of days to herself to mourn. Still, she was surprised no one had gotten around to rebuilding it yet. The last of the flyers from the request board were gone, so she supposed that the guild had cleaned the board to stalk up on money and jobs before spending all their time rebuilding.

"Wow, this place was destroyed," Loke stated the obvious.

"Yeah, the worst part is the guilt Elfman must be feeling over it, I'll call Virgo and let's start clearing the rubble. Gray is going to want to see some progress when he comes back. He should be coming back sometime in the next few weeks. If it's starting to hurt staying out, I can call you out on my own power or you can take a rest and I'll call Taurus." Lucy said, checking her magic connection to Loke to make sure he wasn't in pain (he always insisted he could stay out longer than he should, but Lucy felt that just because he could doesn't mean he should.) Starting to pick up pieces of plaster and move them off the basic foundation, she was impressed by how much was still there. Freed and Levy had helped a lot in laying the foundation the last time around, so that must be why. Virgo came out and after three hours of work the three of them had cleared the main hall of the guild of rubble (Virgo being the biggest help).

Lucy took a moment to mourn the broken fairy statue, the girl was so pretty and was smiling even though broken. Being the emotional wreck the she was, Lucy felt a connection to the girl, part of her head and her outfit were now rubble, but Lucy thought she looked more like a member of Fairy Tail than ever. Not a single person in the guild was alright after fighting Tartarus, her team especially, and now their mascot had scars too. Ironically, her tail had been broken off. Loke helped her find the tail and they put her in the pile that could be reused, though neither of them knew how they could possibly use her.

"Oh my," Lucy heard a voice say, and turned to find Mira holding a grocery bag.

"Hello there Mira," Lucy said pleasantly, grabbing a towel full of rocks to carry to the "can't be used" pile.

"Lucy, didn't you hear?" Mira's voice was shaking. Lucy shook her head and did her best not to break down sobbing.

"Yeah, I can't believe Natsu and Happy took off for a year either, the jerks." She was about to say something about how he had always made such a big deal about partners doing things together, but it stuck in her throat, so she swallowed it and turned back to the rubble.

"I know everyone is off taking jobs, but I earned so much from my jobs right before the…the incident, that I thought I would get a head start on rebuilding. Look at how much we've cleared away."

"You don't know," Mirajane whispered. Those words turned Lucy's blood to ice, she couldn't take any more bad news, she was tied together with a smile as it was.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until we finish clearing debris from all the back rooms, then Virgo can survey how much we need to dig out of the bottom ruins." Lucy was shaking slightly, and Mira felt horrible, but Lucy had to know.

"Lucy, Master disbanded the guild. He told everyone yesterday evening that it was a new era, we needed to fly on our own, and he wasn't going to restart Fairy Tail." Lucy's emotions flared and then died; Virgo and Loke were at her side in an instant, not even pausing to realize they could sense her distress in Earthland, something they had been unable to do before.

"Lucy, talk to me, everything is going to be okay. Lucy, relax, you're going to be fine, Natsu is going to be fine, Gray is going to be fine, Erza is going to be fine, Wendy is going to be fine, your spirits are going to be fine. We are all going. To. Be. Just. Fine." Loke finished his speech as Virgo took the blank-faced girl into her arms, and he started to glare at Mira.

"What did you tell her?" He demanded. Mira flinched.

"Fairy Tail has been disbanded, Master refuses to rebuild and start it up again. She had to know." Mira's voice was shaking. Loke jumped up, ready to yell at Mira for hurting his master.

"They can't," Lucy said quietly, silencing everyone, "They can't get rid of Fairy Tail, even for a month." She stood up now, and no one knew what to make of her voice, "They can't."

"Master said…" Mira tried but shut up when Lucy looked at her. It was sharper than anything Mira had ever seen from her friend. This wasn't the same Lucy that walked into the guild star struck, this wasn't even the same girl that refused to give into Minerva's beating, this girl was emanating power that had the S class mage ready to run.

"Since when the hell do we listen to Master anyway?" Lucy argued back. Lisanna and Elfman had approached the group, worried when their sister had taken much longer than she should have. They joined Lucy's audience.

"When Master told us to leave him while he fought Aconologia, and did we listen? When he told us that we weren't to fight Phantom without him, who flipping cared? When he thought we couldn't save both the city and guild from the Thunder Palace, did we agree and give up the guild to Laxus? No, if we left Tartarus keep Fairy Tail dead, they've done more than destroy the hundreds of lives they already did. They've won. And I refuse to let them win anything else from me." Her voice only shook a little bit at that point, but she continued on strong.

"Master wants us to choose our own paths huh? Probably inspired by Natsu and Gray taking off to adventure by themselves. Idiots. Well, my choice is family, my choice is happiness, my choice is Fairy Tail. So I am going to sit here and rebuild this guild all by myself if I have to, because Fairy Tail was never just about its members, it was also about our clients. The Council is dead, and they will take a long time to rebuild, so we are just going to leave the citizens of Magnolia without anyone to turn to? What about all those little kids, the ones who are fleeing from their own homes because demons attacked it or their parents disappeared and have nowhere to find work? Or the ones who suddenly realized they have magic, but no one will teach them? What about all those stupid little runaway heiresses" Lucy's voice cracked but she kept going, "who want a family, and have dreamed of joining Fairy Tail their whole lives? Are we just going to tell them that sorry, this last battle was too difficult, we gave up everything we stood for? I refuse, so either get over here and help me clean this mess up, or get out of my way." Her team wasn't here, but there was a reason Team Natsu was considered the strongest team. Lucy held her head high as Virgo and Loke followed her to finish clearing away the last of the rubble.

Lucy hadn't been lying, but she would be if she said it didn't hurt when she saw the Strauss siblings leaving. She and her spirits worked through the afternoon and had the first floor rooms cleared by the time the sun was about to set. Loke and Virgo graciously left no comments about her tears.

The same thing happened the next day, Lucy awoke at dawn and after a good breakfast went back to the guild. She found someone else this time.

"Lucy, is it true you are going to work all by yourself until the guild is rebuilt?" Erza asked, she was sitting on one of the 'can be reused' piles.

"Yes," Lucy said simply, "Fairy Tail is the only home I have ever loved, and it needs to be there for anyone who wants work, home, and family." Erza nodded, then traced the fairy mark on her arm.

"You know, these haven't faded for two reasons: Master hasn't found the founding document and canceled the spell, and we still have mages on jobs."

"You aren't going to convince me that I belong somewhere else too?" Lucy asked, a little surprised.

"I don't believe in stopping hard work for a cause you believe in," Erza smiled, "now did you hear what I said? Master needs the founding document to officially disband Fairy Tail."

"How official can anything be when the council doesn't exist?" Lucy replied, but then she remembered what area Virgo was going to check today, the Master's office.

"Thanks for the tip Erza, what are you going to do now?" Erza smiled sadly.

"I actually snatched up an S class job, hoping to make Fairy Tail go out with a bang. My ferry leaves today, I might be gone a while, so I expect to see some real progress by the time I get back," she finished sternly. Lucy smiled, glad to have a concrete reason for doing what she was doing. Erza would beat her up if she was slacking.

"Yeah yeah, you and the rest of Team Emotionally Stunted, and maybe one day we'll be able to actually talk about our feelings." Lucy rolled her eyes, then took on a serious tone, "hey, you need help just give a shout okay?"

"I will, who else is going to make sure you keep your promise to rebuild the guild? I want something to come home to as much as everyone else." Erza rolled her eyes back at Lucy, smiling.

"I'm not sure how good it'll be," Lucy winced, "after spending so much time with you guys, I've gotten a lot better at destroying stuff than building it."

"Hey," Erza put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, "That's your secret ability, you make anywhere you go into a home. Natsu's is making sure people don't give up, Gray's is keeping his cool when everything goes to hell, Wendy's is never giving into anger or vengeance, and yours is making a place worth coming home to. You'll be perfect at this." Erza confided.

"When was this decided?" Lucy asked, thinking over Erza's descriptions and raising one eyebrow at them. It sounded like an excuse for everyone to keep breaking into her apartment.

"I thought it was obvious ever since Edolas," Erza replied, like it was the most natural thing in the world, ignoring Lucy's disbelief.

"Well, what's your secret ability?" Lucy asked blushing at the praise.

"Me? I'm the shiny one; the one everyone can look to and see light and order."

"You got that right, and you've convinced me I'm not completely crazy," Lucy said, giving Erza the hug she hadn't been able to give Natsu or Gray. Erza knew what it was and hugged back just as tight.

"Hey, who knows, maybe I'll finish this job and be back in less than a week," Erza said as she released her best female friend.

"Do what you always do and make Fairy Tail proud, I'll make sure our marks stay right where they are supposed to be." Lucy said, tracing hers with a finger. Erza nodded before going back to her luggage cart. Just before the re-quip mage disappeared from view, Lucy called her name.

Erza looked back to see Lucy holding up her hand, pointing an "L" towards the sky, her mark as clear as the day she got it. Erza returned the sign.

_No matter how far you've gone, or if I can't see you, I will always be looking your way. _

Lucy had one final remarkable encounter, about a week after Erza left.

"Why don't you brats ever listen?" Master Makarov grumbled to himself as he surveyed Lucy working alone on the rebuilding.

"Lucy, what are you doing child?" he asked when Lucy stopped thirty minutes later to take a break.

"What I can. What I have to. Maybe the only thing I could possibly do sir?" Lucy replied with a grin. If Master thought that any of his kids were okay with him leaving their home destroyed, he had another thing coming. Lucy had started to take every comment from her guild mates about it being ridiculous as a challenge to do more. It helped that there was a seed of desperate hope behind the eyes of the Strauss's and Erza. Lucy normally wasn't the hope of the guild, that was Natsu's job, but since….she would do whatever she could, no matter what anyone said. Her spirits supported her 100%, her team supported her 100% (or Gray and Natsu would if they were here.)

"I've disbanded Fairy Tail, please stop tying yourself to this dead guildhall and go live your freedom." Lucy looked at her former master for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"I thought you of all people would understand," Lucy laughed, "I have never been chained by anything or anyone here. I run where I will already, or did you never notice my team running around dragging my butt back here? I am here because I want to be, because I only grow stronger with my family, and I will take anyone who needs a home as a member of my family. You taught me that's what Fairy Tail is, that and pushing ourselves beyond what anyone thought our limits were because we should always press the edge of the possible. Well I am going to put this dung heap back into working order before the next Grand Magic Games, and Fairy Tail will make another showing, and we will always do our best to help those in need and destroy those who want to take our family apart. That's the limit I am going to push. Even if it's just me, that option needs to be open."

"It is a new era, one Fairy Tail was never meant to see, I must ask you to reconsider your choice," Makarov said threateningly.

"You're right, my choice." Lucy shot back, "there isn't an era or whatever you call it that wouldn't benefit from Fairy Tail, so I say the best way to start again is to rebuild this place. Legally, you actually can do nothing but stand down as guild master sir. There is no magic council to apply for disbursement, so you can't officially end the guild. Plus I have the founding document, and under its contract, you can step down and leave successor or we have six months to vote as a guild who should be the next guild master. You can't stop me Master, anyone in the Fairy Tail guild has the right to rebuild and destroy on this property, and I am claiming that right here and now."

Makarov shook his head, "Since when did you become a lawyer?" he growled.

"I was always one, what do you think I did for seven years alone in my mansion? I read every stinking book in my dad's library, including one called _The making and breaking of Guilds_. Virgo retrieved it for me two days ago."

"Fine, do what you will, I could never control any of you brats anyway, but you will regret this decision. Fairy Tail was never meant to live this long."

"I will never regret choosing the only family I have," Lucy said confidently, not quiet reflecting how she felt inside, but refusing to show any doubts. When Fairy Tail was rebuilt and people could take job requests again, she wouldn't be so lonely. Until then, she would live behind the mask of confidence.

Makarov humfed and started walking away, only to turn back for one last look at one of his precious brats.

"Don't break yourself dear," he said gently, "a horrible way to restart a guild, destroying yourself even more in your attempts." Lucy wanted to discount his words, but could only nod.

**Flashback two days ago:**

"Taurus and Scorpio aren't contracted to me today," Lucy said to herself, frowning at the guild library that needed to be gently cleared and the books placed in storage. She was going to fill her apartment and two of Erza's extra rooms with the books temporarily, but she wasn't sure which of her spirits would be the best for the job. Even if those two were contracted, there's no guarantee that they would be gentle.

"Call Virgo and Aries then, you know they will be careful," Loke said, appearing beside her like he did every day since Natsu left.

"I've been using Virgo a lot, she deserves a break. You deserve a break too, if I could stop you from coming," Lucy snarked. After two days of intense work with her, Lucy tried to get Loke to go back, but every time she forced closed his gate, he would break back through ten minutes later. He was stronger than the others, he would constantly remind her. Eventually she gave up forcing him to do anything, not that she was trying too hard, but she didn't miss his smirk of victory every time she mentioned him leaving without doing anything to enforce it.

"Okay, Gemini and Aries then." Loke suggested and Lucy nodded and selected the two keys and keeping Horologium on the top in case any of the books needed to be magically cleaned and dried.

Yes, she was practicing summoning three spirits, just because she hadn't left Magnolia, didn't mean she wasn't going to make herself stronger as well. No one was ever going to have to be sacrificed again.

"Open Gate of the Ram, Aries! Open Gate of the Twins, Gemini!" The spirits stood before Lucy, she smiled at how easy it was at this point to summon two.

"Okay guys, the plan is to clear out the library today, Virgo and Taurus did most of the heavy lifting yesterday, but we need to get these books to a safe place before we start construction. Make two piles, one of books ready to be stored, and one for Horologium to clean before being stored. Gemini, working while transformed as me for as long as possible will probably be best, while levitating books out of the pit during your down time. Ready?" Her four spirits nodded, and with a poof, Gem and Mini turned into Lucy, luckily her current self with clothes on instead of the towel version they preferred. They smiled and started walking with group down to the library, when the second Lucy fell to the ground gasping.

"Gemini!" Lucy yelled, crouching next to herself, "what's wrong?" Loke and Aries hovered above them scared. The doppleganger looked at their master with tears in her eyes.

"You're hurting so much, you crying inside about your friends, Natsu, Natsu, Natsu, why did you leave? You promised we were partners! You're crying about your spirits, you're so worried about gaining our trust back, you're scared and you're lonely. Oh, you are so lonely! How do you stand it? It hurts so much, it feels like I can't breathe." Gemini kept crying, while Loke and Aries watched to see what Lucy would do.

"Transform back, we'll try this again when I'm a little stronger," Lucy said, voice shaking. She forced closed the gate to stop the sounds of her own internal crying being given a voice, and was shaken by what she saw. Gemini was going to have to get Lucy out of her system until she wasn't so broken. Levy and Wendy might be good replacements in Gemini's memory banks, and she was probably even power wise with those two.

"Open, Gate of Goat, Capricorn!" Lucy called, quietly explained the plan to him, and started walking down the broken staircase to the library again.

**Flashback end**

"I promise to take care of myself," Lucy told him, pushing down the worry of her own collapsing. Luckily she was familiar enough with pushing her power to know when enough was enough, and since two days ago when Gemini collapsed, Lucy had been having early morning meditation sessions with Capricorn to help put her psyche back together. Makarov nodded and turned away, seeing the pain behind Lucy's eyes, but knowing that she knew what it was and was dealing with it.

Her only living parental figure was walking out of her life for who knows how long, and Lucy couldn't stop the last ,"Wait!" from escaping from her lips. She cursed herself as soon as she said it, the question she was dying to ask shouldn't be asked because the answer was probably going to destroy her. True to Lucy fashion, she threw caution to the wind.

"Are you proud of me?" she asked in a small voice. Brought back to all the times she begged for her father's attention, she wondered if she looked as young as she felt in that moment. Makarov turned to face her completely, twenty feet between them.

"Yes. Yes, Lucy of Fairy Tail, I am so very proud of you." He finally left the site then, and Lucy didn't stop him this time. She was crying once again, but this time tears of happiness and determination. When her friends came home, they would have a home to return to, another job to go on, and a place to relax with their family.


	2. Lucy Faces the Consequences

Lucy wanted to skip that morning's meditation session with Capricorn, she needed to finish the building designs she had been researching and start a list of everything she would need to buy. Too bad Capricorn had heard about Gemini's breakdown, and he forced his gate to make sure she took that hour to work on mentally healing herself. So it was a surprise when she arrived and there was Fairy Tail, standing in the ruins. And she meant Fairy Tail.

It had been a month since Master had warned her against rebuilding the guild, and she hadn't seen any of her family since, but they were all standing there, looking at the work she had done and re-sweeping the areas she had neglected while researching.

"Mira," Lucy said the first thing that had come to her mind, "everyone, what are you doing here?" Levy looked up from a book she was reading about architecture and ran over to her friend.

"Hey Lucy, awesome job with the clearing, you really exposed the bones of the place. Have you thought about using a Teratici design?"

"Lucy, you're right about Fairy Tail, it was stupid to let Tartarus win by breaking Fairy Tail permanently," Mira said, walking over, then she leaned in closer, "Plus it was tearing Elfman apart being such a huge cause for the ending of the guild. We couldn't let him stay like that."

"Hey, good work, what are you going to do next?" Max said. He and Warren had wandered over and Lucy jumped, looking for someone else they could be talking to. Surely they couldn't asking her for directions.

"Yeah," Warren continued, "we hadn't believed Lisanna at first when she told us you were rebuilding this place by yourself, but you've already done so much! What can we help with?" Lucy was saved from responding by a little body slamming into her.

"Lucy! You haven't left!" Wendy cried, clutching her older sister and crying just a little bit. "Everyone else was leaving and people decided that Fairy Tail needed to finish all the job requests we had accepted, so I took two because I couldn't stand anymore goodbyes and I wanted to keep busy, but you haven't left!" Lucy stroked the little girl's long hair, knowing exactly how many homes had slipped from this child's fingers, and it was confirmed in her heart again that she had made the right choice.

"Hey, relax, of course I'm not going anywhere, we're Fairy Tail and we don't back down, we don't give in, and we don't give up. Especially on our family." The others had noticed Lucy's arrival, Erza walked to right in front of the crowd, stationed herself in front of Lucy and smiled. Fairy Tail assembled behind their Titania.

"So Lucy, what's the plan? We all came back from missions within the last few days and are ready to help." Everyone nodded and Lucy still wasn't sure why they were looking at her. Laxus was in the group, as was Erza, shouldn't they be taking charge now that they were back?

It was probably a curtsey they were giving her because she had had more time to think about rebuilding designs. Still, if they wanted to be ordered around, she supposed she could give it a try. It wouldn't be too different from creating the game plan on a mission or giving directions to her spirits or, heaven forbid, her days on the Manor and having to organize the servants for a party her father wanted to hold.

"Okay, umm, I have the plans for the new building right here. It'll be a little different from the last model because there are a lot of new styles that will take our brawls better," there were some chuckles here, and Lucy gained confidence, "I've also gone over some styles inspired by the celestial world that I've tweaked to make perfect for Fairy Tail. Ummm…." Looking over the crowd, she tapped her chin in thought, "Okay, I want Gajeel, Levy, Max, and Freed looking over the current designs, I need you to make sure the building will stand up because I'm not very good with laws of physics, nor if the magical properties I want worked into the stones are viable. I want everyone else to split into teams of three and await a list of supplies we will need you to buy, charged to Fairy Tail's account. I also want Laxus, Mest, Erza, er, Mirajane, Wendy, and… Cana with me to see what we can do about getting financial support. If you are waiting for your list, work on finding a way to get that pile of trash," she pointed to the rubble that can't be reused, "to the dump and create a list of what materials we do have in that pile," she pointed to the re-useable pile.

"Anyone with valid concerns or questions can talk to Loke or Capricorn. Let's get working people, some of us are still missing, let's make sure they have a home to come back to, alright Fairy Tail?" They let up a cheer before dividing off like Lucy suggested. A quick summons had Capricorn and Loke at her side and updated on recent events. Seeing how big Loke was smiling at his family returning, Lucy suddenly realized her smile matched. She wasn't lonely anymore. Loke gave her a quick hug before running over to Levy's group to answer their questions.

Erza, Laxus, Mest, Mirajane, Wendy, and Cana reported to her, and while Lucy felt a little bold telling Fairy Tail's S class what to do, she had spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking about this, so she was going to say her piece before she let the others take charge.

"Okay guys, our biggest issue, as usual, is funding. Last time we rebuilt the Council, as well as Phantom's bank accounts, helped, but this time we are going to need to call in some favors."

"How do you know who owes Fairy Tail? We already called in a lot of favors after the time-skip." Laxus asked, not demeaning or denying her plan, which is sort of what she expected from him, but instead supporting it and needing to know the answers.

"I found the black box of important guild documents when cleaning out the rubble, it's currently sitting in the celestial world in case someone gets dire premonitions of Fairy Tail's return and wants to destroy it. Makarov's password of Bikini Babes was hardly difficult to crack. Turns out that all the guild masters still remember the real events of the GMG despite Mest's memory games," Lucy said, giving a small smile to Mest, hoping he understood she didn't blame him. Mest smiled back sheepishly, but looked happier than all the other times Lucy had seen him put together, which made her happy.

"So here is the plan, Mest, Laxus, and I are going to dig around a little and figure out which banks Tartarus held their money in, the same law that gave us Phantom's money for rebuilding could be used to convert their accounts to Fairy Tail. I want Cana to go to Quatro Cerberus and see if their guild master would be willing to loan us some money to help us back on our feet, at least until we are earning revenue again. Erza, I want you to do the same for Mermaid heel, Wendy I need you to talk to Sting at Sabertooth, and Mira Blue Pegasus. Get what money you can, but not at the expense of the dignity of Fairy Tail, and only what they are willing to give. If nothing, accept that with grace and return back here to help Levy's team with construction. I will also be requesting an audience with Princess Huishi to see what other financial options are available to us after I research the situation with the Tartarus guild funds." Everyone was nodding, and it felt good to be listened to, but she wanted to make sure there weren't any flaws her inexperience overlooked. "Does that sound good to everyone?" she checked.

"You heard the Lady," Laxus said, "This will do more than hopefully get some funds, we are also showing the world that we have not been defeated and are ready to get back out there and be Fairy Tail." Everyone left to go pack for their trips, Mest and Laxus milling around to finish going over their part of the plan with her, but Wendy pulled Lucy aside.

"Umm, Lucy? I don't think I should be the one going to Sabertooth. I'm not very good with words and I really don't want to mess this up for the guild," Wendy confided, fiddling with her hair. Lucy was a little shocked at the revelation, but she did her best not to show it. Standing in front of her was an insecure teenager that needed a pep talk.

"Hey, I know you're up for the challenge." She bent a little to look Wendy in the eyes as she continued, "You know Sting, and Yukino is his assistant. You went into Dragon Force and took down a demon by yourself, and bought the dragons time to gather and destroy the other Faces. If anyone has the right to ask for a little help putting her family back together, it's you Miss Marvel. Plus, this might sound silly, but I need you to check on Rouge and Sting. They lost their parents too, and seeing you working hard might make them step up their game if they've been caught in a funk like everyone else. You're the only one who will be able to see them and know what to say if they are still hurting. You can do this, Wendy Marvel of Fairy Tail."

Wendy straightened her spine, "I can do it for my family." She looked so determined, Lucy laughed a bit.

"Wendy, I know you, you can do anything for your family, whether it be crossing dimensions, going into dragon force, or acting as our representative for other guilds. Now you just have to remember that." Wendy smiled and called Carla before leaving to go pack and buy a train ticket.

"Okay, what is your plan for us?" Laxus said, arms folded.

"I actually am not quite sure where to start," she admitted, "I know the law, but we have to know which bank Tartarus was storing their money at before we can transfer the accounts."

"I can help with that one," Lisanna said, walking past them at that perfect moment, "when I was searching for Mira I came across an accounting room with receipts for Blooming Bank in Crocus."

Laxus laughed then, a deep ironic one. "Why am I not surprised they filed right under the kingdom's and the magic council's nose," he said.

"We are going to need solid proof," Lucy said, thinking out loud, "Lisanna, do you think you remember where in Algeria the accounting room was situated?" Lisanna's forehead creased.

"I think so, if I get to the cells Natsu and I were stuck in, I can find my way through the rubble," she said.

"Perfect, you and Virgo are going to get whatever documentation you can on the banks that Tartarus worked with. Open, gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" Lucy summoned her spirit and felt the pull of three spirits being summoned take its toll on her. She could go about forty minutes with three spirits at the moment.

"Let me just go get-" Lisanna started saying.

Lucy interrupted her, "Virgo, I need you to carry Lisanna to the Ruins of the Tartarus guildhall and she will give you a general layout of where some important documents are. I need you to retrieve those documents and place them in the box with the other stuff. Make sure that Lisanna ends up back here with her siblings before you return to the Spirit World."

"As you wish Princess," Virgo said, and Lisanna found herself in the maid's arms, kicking and yelling something about needing better shoes. Lucy and several others let out a laugh at the sight. Hopefully it would take them less than forty minutes.

"Okay then," Lucy looked at her companions, "We're heading to Crocus. Meet me at the train station at ten o'clock, I'm going to go make sure Levy and Gajeel can keep construction going while we're gone. Pack some nice clothes," Lucy added as an after thought, a plan falling into place, "there is going to be a lot of bluffing going on and we need to look the part." The boys nodded and Lucy spent a moment watching them walk away. They certainly weren't her boys, Gray and Natsu, but they were family, so she supposed they would do.

Gajeel, Levy, Freed, and Max were discussing her floor plans, and she was glad she wasn't going to be around when they tore it apart because it was so unreasonable. She had worked hard on those, and while she knew they needed to be revised, Lucy didn't take pleasure in watching it happen. It was just like editing her novel, painful and necessary

"I'm telling you, it's going to need at least two more support beams or it won't be able to hold the weight of the roof," Gajeel insisted.

"Fine, now why does she have this section blocked off, I can't tell what it's supposed to be," Max said, pointing to a part of her diagram. Max was part of the group as one of the only members to have actual building experience. He had learned a lot while constructing the impromptu guildhall during the seven years they lost.

"That is going to be a memorial to everything lost in the fight against Tartarus," Lucy said, looking at what he was pointing at, "the broken Fairy statue from the old guild is going to be a part of it, but I wasn't sure what else, which is why I left it blank. We aren't going to forget the past." Max nodded and kept studying the diagram.

"Levy," Lucy turned to her and held out her house key, "I have all the guild books about architecture sitting on the floor by my writing desk, as well as several from the celestial spirit world that I bookmarked, use those and Loke if any other questions come up. Throw out any spoiled food I might have as well, and water my plants if you have the chance. I'm headed to Crocus for a week to see what I can do about money."

She nodded and Lucy took a deep breath, making everyone look at her "This is going to be difficult, but I need you guys to keep it together and never look like you are fighting. Things are fragile right now without Gramps and we need to look united no matter how stressful rebuilding is going to be. Can you handle that?" Lucy take a turn looking into the eyes of each member of the construction team until they nodded their consent.

Lucy would trust in their promises and abilities, they knew how important it was to have everything go smoothly until they could elect a new master.

"I'm guessing you want me to stay here?" Loke's voice said as his arms wrapped around his master from behind.

"Please? You're the only one I can trust, and the only one who can force your gate while I'm gone; I need you to be here and answer any questions these guys might have since you've been with me every step of the way." He sighed and let go.

"I'm with you thick and thin and my reward is to be left behind, I see how it is."

Lucy reached up and scratched behind his kitty ears, bringing a sweet smile to his face. Then he saw what she was doing and moved her arm away.

"In all seriousness, I don't feel good with you going out minus two of your strongest spirits," Loke said. Lucy flinched a little at the reminder, but Loke held her gaze.

"I've still got eight golden keys, including Capricorn," Lucy replied, cringing inside but refusing to break down. There was no way he would let her go then, this was a test, "and I am leaving with Laxus and Mest. There isn't going to be any danger. There are no more dark guilds, we are heading to the capital, and the three of us are strong enough to take on any other threats."

Loke put one hand to his hair, and let out a huff, "Fine, but in fifteen minutes I'm coming through my own gate. I've seen you break down far too many times this month. Exhaustion because of me is not going to lead to another, and you have to promise to keep up your meditation with Capricorn, Crocus doesn't hold all happy memories for you either." Oh right, Loke had watched her die the last time she was in Crocus. Lucy sighed, but nodded.

A quick jog back to her apartment, a quick packing, and she was at the station with possibly the two quietest members of Fairy Tail. Laxus handed her a ticket, and they stood silently for a few minutes until their train came. When they reached their compartment, Laxus was the last one in. He took out a light pen and wrote some basic runes on the door.

"Now that no one can eavesdrop," Laxus said, dropping into the seat beside Mest and across from Lucy, "I need to have more details on your plan, especially what you think we can do to help. I wasn't around when Fairy Tail got Phantom's accounts and have no idea about what law you are talking about," Laxus looked a little green, but he was so much better than Natsu, it was a refreshing change.

Lucy was getting better at not flinching when she thought his name.

"Okay, you not knowing anything changes a the plan a little, but we can still make it work," Lucy had been planning on letting Laxus claim new guild master and presenting herself as the assistant, only there as back up if they threw questions he didn't know the answer to. It was only a matter of time before the guild elected him master anyway, but if Laxus knew nothing, the bluff wouldn't sell. He plan formed as she spoke.

"I sent a letter to the Princess a week ago telling her I would be in town and wanted to meet up with her, I got a response yesterday that she was willing to make time for me whenever I came. The plan is for us to get there just before nightfall today, locate the main offices of Blooming Bank, and get a hotel right near it. In the morning I'll send a letter to the Princess asking to meet with her on Thursday, and we spend the rest of Wednesday doing whatever it takes to turn the accounts of Tartarus over to Fairy Tail's Bank of Fiore.

"I'll be acting like the business woman my dad taught me to be, so don't act surprised when I sound completely different. We wear business clothes. Laxus is here to add credentials that we really are from Fairy Tail, being one of the most famous members after the games, feel free to frown disapprovingly at the bank officials, your intimidation factor is also important. Mest—sorry I've been calling you that, do you prefer Doranbolt?" Lucy asked, hesitating. He shook his head with a smile.

"I spent the last month trying to undo the damage I did to my own mind, I prefer Mest, so I think that's my real name, but I'm guessing you'll want me to be Doranbolt for our little attack on the bank. Add whatever is left of council credibility to your argument, probably bluff some more about how the council is on the verge of being re-instated and they could gain favor with them by complying now," Mest said.

"You read my memories," Lucy replied cheekily, dragging a small surprised laugh out of the former spy.

"The biggest problem we are going to have at the bank is the fact that Tartarus will have been using a different name in their account, so we have to figure out their alias," Lucy said, focusing back on the present, "We don't know what documents Lisanna and Virgo will be able to dig up. The only clue we have to go on for sure is that I'm positive they used Silver to access their money, since he actually looked human, but other than that I don't know."

"Who is Silver?" Laxus asked, "I was out for everything important." Of course no one knows who Silver is, Lucy realized, her team had a brief debriefing where they told each other what had happened while they were separated, even though she got the feeling everyone left out parts too raw to face right after the event. Gray had put his dad's body in an ice coffin and they helped him carry it away from the rubble.

"Gray's dead father that had been reanimated by a demon, becoming a demon gate too." Lucy told him quietly, looking at her hands, "I know what he looks like, but I don't know anything else." Laxus nodded, and when the train shook a bit his face went even greener than before and he hunched over a bit.

"Since we aren't getting started right away, let's talk about this more when we set up at our hotel," Lucy suggested, taking pity on him. Laxus nodded and leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes. Mest looked at Lucy confused, she giggled, pointed to the lightning dragon slayer's face, then pantomimed throwing up.

"I know what you're doing," Laxus said in the middle of Lucy's act, startling her and Mest stiff. They laughed without making a sound and even Laxus smiled. After staring at the passing scenery for a while, Lucy decided to meditate for a bit. Mest saw what she was doing, moved to her side of compartment, joining her. It was Lucy's quietest train ride ever with companions, but she didn't mind, Capricorn had showed her peaceful meditation and how to feel her magic and emotions. It didn't push her magic at all, it wasn't that kind of meditation, but she never got tired of tracing the cords of her magic that bound her to her spirits. She could feel that her magic was only supporting Virgo and Capricorn at this point, but could feel Loke's gate open.

Tracing around her thoughts and memories though, the ones that arose as she felt out her magic, she fell into the pit of her emotions, the ones that broke Gemini. Capricorn had been teaching her how to tease one emotion out at a time and deal with that small piece, but without him there she fell, crashing into the blackness. The turmoil she was feeling inside started crackling around the room, reacting to the magic she had been examining. The energy raced, trying to find an outlet, something to attack to make the feelings of fear and pain go away. Her face tightened, and reliving the emotions all at once had her crying again. A warm hand touched her shoulder.

"Natsu don't leave!" Lucy yelled, opening her eyes, clutching the hand on her shoulder. Laxus and Mest were staring at her, it was Laxus's hand that had shaken her out of her meditation, who she was clinging to.

"You okay Lucy?" Mest asked hesitantly, "you started frowning and twitching, then your magic got out of control, and then you're screaming for Natsu." Lucy released the dragon slayer, and calmed her beating heart, finally understanding why Capricorn had warned her from trying to take too much of that turmoil at once.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Tartarus just left me a little more shaken than I thought. It won't happen again," she said, placing a smile on her face. Laxus lifted his hand off her shoulder, only to brush something off her cheek.

"This doesn't look like fine to me," he said, showing the small tear sitting on his finger. Lucy stared at it, touching her face to confirm it came from her.

"Okay, maybe I'm still not fine," Lucy said, pushing his hand away, "but I'm trying to fix it. Can you not bring it up again? I promise there will be no more yelling." Not wanting to see any pity they had, she retreated back into her meditation pose, though it took much longer to calm herself this time around.

She knew the others in the car were trying to figure out what was going on with her, but Lucy didn't feel confident enough to call them out on it. Instead she focused on her heartbeat, the one thing that would continue and the reason she had to keep fighting for Fairy Tail. She was alive.

The rest of the ride went quietly with Mest being the one to gently bring her out of meditation when they arrived. She smiled and only caught Laxus stumble once as they made their way off the train. Lucy grabbed a visitor's pamphlet and realized that the closest hotel to Blooming Bank was actually Honeybone. Oh the irony.

"Come on guys, I know where we are going," she said, leading the way. Checking into the inn felt strange, though she was recognized by the person at the front desk.

"Look, it's Fairy Tail, welcome back guys. You've sure been quiet for a while, did you hear that people spotted dragons last month?" he said eagerly. Lucy went still for a second, but didn't flinch.

"Yeah, we heard," she said, stopping the guy's chatter, "we're here on official guild business and need to wake up early tomorrow, could we please have our room now?"

"Of course, anything for you guys," the receptionist said. Lucy knew exactly what would happen, if only because her past doesn't know how to stay dead. He led them into the second-floor room with six beds, a tiny plaque announcing the Fairy Tail had used the rooms during their amazing comeback. Lucy fell on the bed she had slept on during those horrible games, when she wasn't in the infirmary, and sighed into her pillow.

It took five minutes to get over the random flashbacks from the Games, and another minute to get over the fact that Laxus had chosen Natsu's bed and Mest had chosen Gray's. When she considered herself pulled together, she sat up.

"So, any other questions? Otherwise I'm going out to get some food and then come back here for an early night. I'm guessing you guys won't make too much noise?" she joked.

"One question," Mest said surprisingly, "can I come with you?" Lucy smiled and looked to Laxus, who grunted and looked away. Too bad his stomach chose that moment to growl.

Lucy laughed, happy that she had been able to laugh more times in this one day than she had for the entire past month, "we'll bring you back something," she told Laxus.

Lucy secured her keys and her whip before gesturing to Mest to come with her. They spent dinner talking about what exactly had happened to Mest to put him in Fairy Tail, and then some reminiscing about their training weeks before Tenerou and the trials themselves.

You know things are bad when you can look back and laugh about losing seven years of your life. He also took the opportunity to ask her what the hell was up with Jellal and Fairy Tail, and Lucy had no problem telling him anything about that story. Laxus came in halfway through, and they let him join their table without comment. Laxus hadn't heard all of Jellal's story either, so he listened through Lucy explaining what Jellal was like after the Oraceion Seis revived him by tricking Wendy, and she got a full-blown laugh out of both of them when she told them Jellal's crappy excuse of having a fiancé in order to keep his emotional distance from Erza.

They stayed out later than they planned, but Lucy could feel the boys taking away her loneliness, one inch at a time. After a dreamless night of sleep, Lucy sent a letter to the princess, using the alias Hisiu had for her personal mail, then she spent the rest of the morning dressing them to look official.

Laxus was a nightmare, trying to get him to dress in a respectable business fashion was worse than trying to dress Gray and Natsu put together.

"No, for the last time, you can't wear animal print or your fur coat," Lucy scolded, exasperated.

"Why do we have to dress up like this? We're Fairy Tail, not some puffed up merchants." He looked disgusted at Lucy's own outfit: blazer, blue striped shirt, black skirt, and glasses. Of course, she hated her own outfit, but that didn't mean Laxus could. Plus she had been born a puffed up merchant, and she did not appreciate the remark on her family.

"We're dressing up like this because we are Fairy Tail in need of bluffing our way through a bank. Do you have any idea what kind of security those places have? There is no one _actually_ enforcing the law that they have to turn over the money, banks are protected by the royals, but the Magic Council is the one that enforces this law. We need to look like we are going to sue the pants off them unless they do what we say, now put some clothes on that don't make you look like a fashion show reject!"

"No fashion show would reject my coat," Laxus insisted. A tick mark appeared over Lucy's head.

"That's it! If you refuse to dress yourself out of some childish pride, I'm going to have to do it for you!" To say Laxus was surprised when Lucy threw herself on top of him would be an understatement. He was so stunned she had his coat and shirt off before he could even respond. Mest just sort of stood to the side and watched in awe how Fairy Tail actually worked. Did all of Fairy Tail take clothes off in public? Gray obviously did, Makarov ripped his sleeve off last time Mest saw him, and now Lucy was literally tearing the clothes off Laxus. It gave some seriously disturbing images to the mage.

Eventually, when Lucy's violent attempts made the suit rip, they settled on Laxus wearing a white shirt and black slacks. Mest had on the same thing, but added a tie and his former council robes. Once Lucy finished re-doing her hair and throwing out the now smashed glasses, they were ready to leave.

"Excuse me, we need to see the manager about some debts owed to Fairy Tail from a now deceased client of the bank," Lucy said smoothly, gesturing to herself and the boys, her guild mark showing clearly. Sometime when Lucy wasn't looking Laxus had ripped the sleeves off his shirt, but since Lucy wasn't sure he didn't just flex, she decided not to fuss about it, "it's really quite important." The young man gulped, and hurried to get someone else to deal with the mages. He remembered the Games, he heard the rumors, he was not going to deal with this. He came back with a short, round man, who immediately introduced himself.

"Hello Fairy Tail, I'm Stan Hanson, manager of Blooming Bank. What can I do for you?" the manager said. After the introductions, the three of them had been led into a spacious conference room, rune marks flaring a little, but they seemed to be designed to react to attack megic. Lucy's eyes shot warning to Laxus that he was to say nothing, knowing he would be the most uncomfortable in the room and he glared back at where she had sat next to the cubby balding manager, just like she wanted him to. Sitting up straight, she took one of the poses her tutors taught her to use when you were the instigator of the deal.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice," Lucy said pleasantly, "We are here acting in the name of the Fairy Tail guild to inquire about confiscating the account belonging to the dark, recently disbanded guild, Tartarus. They attacked our guild first and under Law 794 in dealing with guild wars, we are owed money to pay the damages done to our guild." Mest stepped in at this point.

"I can confirm this, and we have multiple witnesses that lead us to believe Tartarus accounts were held at this bank under a pseudonym. Now we won't press charges as Tartarus is capable of fooling many people, and we wouldn't like to cause a fuss." Neither of the boys had chosen to sit down, and Lucy quite liked the image of her sitting with two body guards waiting behind her. Of course, she knew the bank had five well-armed mages stashed in the other exit to the room, but it was the image that counted for the moment.

"Alas, I am completely unaware of any dealing with Tartarus," Stan Hansen said with a shrug, "I was also unaware that rules given by the magic council were still being enforced after the… unfortunate incident." Externally, Lucy kept a pleasant look on her face, internally she cheered. She just had to keep the deal from escalating into physically threatening and it would be in the bag. He didn't have any arguments prepared against her.

"The magic council will be rebuilt as it always is," Mest said, "of course, they will most likely be looking for a bank to store their money in. Willingly following the law and getting rid of Tartarus's blood money might swing Blooming Bank in their favor." Okay Mest was pushing it a little bit, time for Lucy to regain control.

"We are aware that if we bring this matter to the Magic Council and await their enforcement after their re-establishment, it will be a very messy affair with lawyer costs on both sides," Lucy said confidently, "very time consuming, and we mages don't need any bad blood between us and the banking federation. The law is the law however, and if it comes to that we will bring it to court, possibly in front of the Princess, though her opinion may be biased. Then there is the fact that Laxus over there," she gestured to the still frowning giant of a man, "is such a blabber mouth about these things. With our proof, why, I can't imagine anyone would want to work with a bank hostile to Fairy Tail and provides money for the guild that killed hundreds of people and almost eradicated magic from this world." Lucy said all of this with a smile.

"I hear you loud and clear Ms. Heartphilia, it does seem to be in my favor to follow the law, but I will need to see proof and consult the exact requirements. No one would be able to fault this bank if those aren't followed exactly, don't you agree?" He said.

"Would you like to provide the rule book, or shall I?" Lucy said, not even blinking, never letting her smile drop, even though she hadn't looked at the official law before coming there. A gesture from the manager had one of his underlings bring in a rule book bigger than an encyclopedia, and while the lackey left, Stan Hanson turned to law 794, and started reading.

"In order for the guild that had been attacked against guild war laws to be given restitution for damages done to their guild, the following conditions A-F must be met. A. There must be proof that their guild was attacked unprovoked." Lucy was trying to remember the first fight in this particular guild war when Laxus spoke up.

"I can attest to that one sir, myself and my team were the first to be attacked, poisoned by the demon Tempesta, in defense of the former council member Yanjima-san. We were simply picking up a little extra cash working at 8-Island restaurant when we were all put out of commission for another week before we acquired the demon's blood to be used as an antidote. Do you require further testimony?" For the first time that meeting, Laxus grinned, showing the pointed fangs common to all dragon slayers. Stan Hanson shuddered a tiny bit, gulping. Weak. He must be new to the position, an experienced negotiator would let nothing show.

"No-no, I trust that the testimony of Laxus Dreyer, as well as his reputation. I also heard about it that attack in Sorcerer weekly. Let's continue." Lucy felt bad, scaring this man into her demands, but not bad enough to stop. "B. They can identify the sources of the guild's money." Here was the tricky part.

"Of course, if you will allow me to summon my assistant," Lucy said, flirty smile in place, though she was swearing inside.

"Proceed," the manager motioned. Lucy stood up and surprised him by going for her jacket instead of the door. She had left her whip at home, but she had her keys stuffed in the inside pocket of the blazer. Since it wasn't directly attack magic, it shouldn't be blocked.

"Gate of the Maiden, I ask for thee to open." Virgo appeared in her maid outfit. Lucy had felt the push against her magic, probably some weak anti-magic wards the bank had underneath the anti-attack magic, but it was nothing more than a speed bump to her at this point. In fact, part of her wanted to test the anti-attack magic wards, would those be as easy to overcome? She focused back on the task when Virgo held out the black box for her.

"As you have requested Princess," she said.

"Thank you," Lucy said, setting the box on the table, "Please stand behind Laxus until I require you again."

"Punishment?" Virgo asked.

"Please go behind Laxus," Lucy said, smiling. Virgo seemed very willing considering this was the first time Lucy hadn't given her an all out no.

"Of course Princess," Virgo said, and the celestial spirit basically turned into a statue behind the Dragon Slayer.

Lucy watched the man sitting across from her attempt to compose himself, using the opportunity to unlock the box with the less than official password _Bikini Babes_. Seriously, whoever was the next master needed to fix that.

Lucy then set out the documents, cursing herself for not thinking to look at them last night or this morning. She blamed Laxus's ego. Though she probably could have thought this plan through a bit more. There was a lot of winging it going on.

On top was a pile of dusty receipts, and Lucy delicately shuffled them in her hands, trying to quickly figure out what they said. They were, in fact, for Blooming Bank and a quick thumb through showed them dating back to ten years ago at least. No confidential information was on them, but there was proof of transaction. A lot of transaction, like the kind of money the fifteen year old Heartphilia heiress wouldn't scoff at. If she had to guess, Tartarus used taxes from their lesser guilds to keep them in line, not because they actually needed the money for expenses.

"These were found in Tartarus guild headquarters," Lucy said, handing him the documents, smiling, then shook her head, "excuse me, that was wrong, these were seen in the guild headquarters, and then recovered from the bits of ruins left by the end of the battle. You'll see they contain proof of transaction as well as identification of their accounts."

"I see," the manager was pale now, knowing that he had already lost, and lost a lot of money. He handed the documents to an errand boy sitting just outside the door and asked him to have the dusty pages verified, then turned back to the rulebook. "Article C: members of offending guild are taken into custody and have been found guilty of break the law against wars between guilds."

"I am afraid that there are no more members of the Tartarus guild," Lucy said, breaking character for the first time to let some of her hatred for the demons leak out, "In battles to preserve our lives, Fairy Tail killed them all. As for being convicted of breaking the law, well, we'll just refer back to article A, shall we? There is also no reason to charge Fairy Tail for manslaughter, as Demons were never any form of recognized person in the first place." This time it was Lucy making the bank manager shudder, and she got the feeling he wanted nothing more than to be away from her and her friends.

That was fine with her, as long as he signed the contracts she wanted.

"I see," He said, "Article D, a list of damages done to the guild and money required for repairs will be required as soon as reasonably possible." Shoot, Lucy had a vague idea of the costs, but Levy and Gajeel would be hammering out the statistics right now. Why didn't she look at the specifics of the law before hand?

Lucy idly searched through her files, pretending to look for the requested document, but really just buying time. Then she found a document with a note from Loke saying he thought they might need this. It was their initial estimate (on the high side) and list of specific repairs. Loke had added it to the box last night it seemed. The stars were on her side.

They always were.

"Here you are sir," Lucy said handing over the document with a smile. He paled at the costs required, but saw nothing out of order.

"A-article E: any third party involved in the transaction will not be charged or punished for any acts done by the offending guild unless tried in a separate case."

"Of course," Lucy said, "we were never suggesting anything of the like." Stan Hanson looked like he wanted to remind her of her thinly veiled threats, but seemed to decide against it when he saw her smile. Honestly, Lucy was already sick of acting like the business woman her father tried to get her to be, she almost wanted him to insult her, tell her off. That part was begging for the excuse to vent physically about her losses; she felt it might even be more cathartic than meditating.

"And finally F: the acting guild master must be able to receive funds at the time of transfer and swear upon his or her position as a guild master that the funds will be used as appropriate to fix the damages done in the guild war." He looked defeated, but this one actually caused Lucy more panic than any of the others. They didn't have a guild master, they hadn't voted yet and Makarov hadn't appointed anyone in his stead. She felt her body stiffen as her mind searched for a good way to explain their predicament.

"Uh…" she stalled.

"You are sitting in front of her," Laxus said, causing Lucy to jump and gawk at him, "Lucy Heartphilia is the current guild master of Fairy Tail, and as a celestial spirit mage, her word is her law." Laxus shot her a smile that said_ go with it_, but Lucy was panicking, the whole leading people thing had always been temporary. He started to frown, and she got it. Since she was acting in charge of this whole thing, the bluff would have the most strength if she was the guild master. Laxus looked more like her bodyguard than her guild master, he just wanted her to continue the bluff.

But he was also correct in that her word was her law. She never broke a promise. By signing as the guild master, she was committing to a contract she wouldn't be in a position to fulfil. Is she handled this poorly, it might affect her magic.

While she was spinning in these unpleasant mental circles, Laxus let out a mild zap, making her focus on the expectant manager. She would worry about her magic later, Laxus had dug her grave and she had already proved she was willing to do anything for Fairy Tail, she couldn't blow this.

"Y-yes, Guild Master Lucy," that tasted funny on her tongue, "at your service, I am rather new to the title, forgive me for not starting with that information," she said. Stan Hanson just sighed.

"Of course, I understand. Everything seems to be in order, and far be it for me to keep the Fairy Tail guild from participating in the next Grand Magic Games because they lost their guildhall. Please excuse me while I have someone draw up the paper work." He left and Lucy was torn between cheering and panicking, both of those would have to be saved for later, and a glare directed at Laxus assured him of that. A quick eye roll from him assured Lucy that he didn't care what she thought. Lucy pulled out of her purse a quick duplicating spell, used it on all the relevant documents, and put the originals back in the guild's black box.

They got the papers sorted, Lucy cringing a little inside every time she signed her name in the guild master space, and the manager told them in a tired voice that the transfers would be processed and completed within 3-5 business weeks. They exited the building and Lucy immediately took off her blazer, it reminded her too much of the restrictive clothing of her childhood. Pushing Young Lucy, the one that had to be good at negotiating or she wouldn't be allowed to eat, to the front had saved their butts in there, but it didn't mean it was a good place to be.

"Well, sounds like that went better than you expected," Mest said casually as Lucy proceeded to strip off her skirt to reveal a miniskirt underneath. His suspicions about Fairy Tail being part stripper guild continuing to be confirmed.

"'Cept Lucy almost blew the whole thing when we needed her to keep playing her part," Laxus scolded her, "What was with that? You were cooler than ice, way more impressive than anything the other dorks on your team could pull off, then you almost blew it."

"Well excuse me if I wasn't prepared to be referred to as Guild Master," Lucy replied hotly.

"Get used to it," Laxus suggested, unbuttoning his shirt as they entered their shared room.

"What are you talking about? As soon as we have a place that can hold a meeting, the guild is going to vote on either you, Erza, or Mira. No offence, but I'm voting for Mira."

"Yeah, we'll see when the guild comes to vote. I'm betting on you." Laxus replied. Lucy rolled her eyes as the guys changed into normal clothes, when there came a knock on the door.

"Hello?" Lucy asked, standing in the doorway.

"Is a Miss Lucy Hertphilia here?" a palace guard asked.

"I am she." Her brain was still running on official language, and she shook her head, trying to reclaim Lucy of Fairy Tail.

"I have letter from Princess Hisui for you," he said, offering a letter.

It had the royal seal on it.

_My dear friend Lucy,_

_I would love if you could stop by tonight for dinner, I am rather tied up tomorrow evening. I am so glad you thought of me during your time in Crocus. Please come to the main entrance at six o'clock tonight, the guards will recognize you and you are welcome to bring any friends you desire. _

_Sincerely,_

_ Pincess Hisui D. Fiore_

"Tell Hisui that I'll be there," Lucy told the still waiting messenger, who nodded and left.

"So, anyone feel like going to visit the Princess with me?" Lucy asked the guys.

"I would rather not," Mest said, "seems like a friendship meeting and I wouldn't want to intrude."

Laxus snorts, "I'm allergic to rich people." Lucy tried to decide if she should take offense to that, but decided that if Laxus was going to be a grump, she was going to let him be a grump.

"Suit yourselves."

*********TIME******

"Lucy, it's so good to see you!" Hisui said when Lucy entered the small dining room.

"Glad you had time," Lucy replied, "I remember how lonely it is in these huge houses, how many times I would have killed for a girl my own age to talk to."

"I'm so glad you understand," she said, giving Lucy a hug, "not that it isn't fun listening to old ministers every day, but it really isn't."

The two girls talked for hours, Lucy finally learned about how Jude would make funny faces at the Princess during dinner parties, the same thing he did for Lucy in the time before her mother's death, and about which spirits the Princess was contracted to. It was ten o'clock at night by the time Lucy got around to explaining what brought her to Crocus.

"So that's what's been going on with Fairy Tail," Hisui said quietly, a frown on her face. "I was wondering why you guys hadn't been accepting any more requests, several people have complained about it to us since they can't address the magic council. We don't have the magic power to regulate guilds though, so we didn't even try to bother you guys. I figured it had something to do with the dragons spotted last month."

"Yep," Lucy said, "guildhall completely demolished, Master left and claimed the guild disbanded, and several of the unofficial leaders of the guild left to lick their wounds." They were lying together on Hisui's bed and it had been a while since had just been able to dump everything and anything she was feeling on another person. Lucy didn't exactly bottle her emotions, so it wasn't a big deal, but it felt good..

"But not you," Hisui's mouth gave a small smile, "you're a Heartphilia and a celestial wizard. You know how to bring people together and your loyalties to people can't be swayed. You stayed and are going to keep Fairy Tail open for any wandering mage to come to for a meal and a job."

"That's the plan anyway," Lucy frowned, "first thing is that we need to get our guild hall back in working order. We only started buying building materials yesterday, and it's all being charged to Fairy Tail's main account, but that is going to run dry much sooner than we would like. Mest, Laxus, and I were here today to convince Blooming Bank to transfer all of the money belonging to the Tartarus guild to Fairy Tail's account under an old law, but it wasn't like the Magic Council can force them to do anything. It came down to Fairy Tail's reputation that won the argument."

"Hey, do what you have to to be a good person and save your family. The two most important things in the world," Hisui said. Lucy grimaced and buried her head in a pillow.

"I lied about being Fairy Tail's guild master, I'm a horrible person."

"Who knows, it's only a lie if it doesn't come true," Hisui teased, and Lucy was blushing again.

"Hey, there are several stronger mages in the guild who have everyone looking up to them and have much better leadership qualities. I am temporarily in charge only," Lucy said, trying not to wince about the power cut she was going to have to take when that happened.

"Guild Master Lucy, I like the ring it has, respectable but approachable." Hisui giggled.

"stoooooop," Lucy groaned. Now, Lucy never regrets running away from her heiress life, but she was mature enough to admit there were some advantages to the richer side of life. Down pillows, five star meals, and pretty dresses that have never been in a battle were some of the things Lucy could appreciate about her childhood.

"I'll see what I can do about funneling all of Tartarus's funds faster, Guild Master Lucy, and take a 600,000 jewel donation from the castle. I will never stop owing Fairy Tail for cleaning up the mess I made with the eclipse gate and eclipsed celestial spirits. Especially not to you." Hisui said.

"You mean me and Yukino?" Lucy asked, removing the pillow.

"Yukino too," the princess considered, "but it was different, between you and Yukino I mean. I'm not sure what it was, both of you had just as much trouble taking down your spirits, but Yukino felt no remorse for hurting her spirits to help them. You could never bring yourself attack someone who once had complete trust in you. You also seem to have escaped the fatal flaw that Yukino and I have, where we tend to blame ourselves when bad thing after bad thing happens, and we take way too much responsibility for things that really aren't our fault.

"You don't do that, and you've had a worse string of luck than Yukino and I combined, but you refuse to ignore other people when you're sad. You will let your spirits take care of you, you'll let your team take care of you, but never your responsibilities. I don't know if I'm saying this right or if I am making sense at all. You just…accept that people are flawed and that stuff happens. I really admire that about you," Hisui finished.

"My spirits have been taking care of me since I was six, I guess I have a healthy fear of what they could do to me left over from that time," Lucy said. Thoughts of Aquarius ran around Lucy's head, going over all the times she would summon the mermaid to play, only to get scolded and washed away. Yukino and Hisui never seemed to have that problem, their spirits always listened to what they said and did what they wanted. But since their spirits never forced their gates every time they were in trouble either, Lucy preferred her relationship. She was their master only in the legal sense of the term, and it meant she was able to learn so much about their personalities.

If the others were raised by Aquarius, they would never be able to think that all bad things were their fault, Aquarius was too much of a realist. If Lucy had tried to blame herself for any longer about losing her key, the mermaid would have found some way to come to the mortal world and beat Lucy over the head. Lucy started crying then, the tears just came out of nowhere.

"Hey Lucy, are you alright?" Hisui asked alarmed after Lucy's breathing became irregular.

"N-no," Lucy gasped, "but give me a few more seconds and I'll be fine." The princess sat up and looked to see tears streaked all down her friend's face.

"What's wrong?" she demanded.

"I-I lost the person who made me who I am. I'll never see her again, and she was the one who took care of me." Hisui didn't know what to do, so she rolled next to Lucy and gave her a hug, just held her and let her cry.

It did only take her a couple of seconds to pull herself together. "Sorry about that, and I promised Loke I wouldn't break down while I was away, that's twice now," she said ruefully.

"Good job on putting yourself back together," Hisui complimented, "I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to break down, though I'm sorry you're so sad. Why don't you sleep here with me tonight? This bed is obviously big enough for the both of us." Lucy wanted to say no, but the begging look on her friend's face was too much.

"It's a long walk back to the hotel too," Hisui reminded her.

Lucy accepted, "Let me just send the guys a message while you find me some sleeping clothes." Immediately the princess jumped on the bed, a grin stretching her face.

"Yay! I've never had a slumber party before. I'll go see if there are any snacks in the kitchen and I have just your size for a night gown. I'll be right back." Lucy nodded as Hisui ran around planning their sleep over. Lucy had been the same way about her first sleep over with Levy, she understood.

Lucy fingered her keys, Virgo would be the quickest and make the least fuss, but Virgo had done some good work far away from Lucy, which was difficult for a spirit. Virgo needed a break, so did Capricorn. Aries would get lost and attacked, though she supposed Gemini turned into one of the guards would do fine.

She called upon the twins for the first time since their breakdown, found a guard, copied him, made the twins forget their Lucy transformation, and sent them on their way with a note explaining that Lucy was spending the night, _voluntarily_, at the palace. Lucy only wished she could see their faces when Gemini poofed back to the celestial spirit world.

"Hey guys, we're back! How are things going?" Lucy asked her fellow guild mates two days later at the construction site. Her sleep over with Princess Hisui lasted well into the afternoon and her, Laxus, and Mest had only gotten back very late the previous night.

"Lucy!" Levy said happily, "I thought you were going to be gone all week."

"We got things taken care of all much faster than expected. Did you guys get the plans worked out?" Lucy asked, eyeing the pile of recently purchased supplies.

"Yep," Levy said, "We needed to change some of the superstructure, but we have started on the foundation."

"Wonderful," Lucy said, looking over the work her friends had already accomplished. During her survey, an arm was thrown over her shoulder.

"Wonderful? I know you are," Loke purred, and Lucy rolled her eyes at the cheesy pickup line, "how was Crocus?"

"Busy, but still fun. You are going to take a long rest now," then Lucy frowned, "would it be better for you to spend the day relaxing on Earthland on my power? I'm not sure how much rest you'll get in the Celestial world since I know I'll need you before three months are up."

"Hey, no frowning," Loke said, poking her cheek, "Give me twenty-four hours Earthland time in the Celestial Spirit world, I'll be right as rain when you need me next."

"Glad to see you weren't going to pull the macho act," Lucy said, untangling herself from Loke, "Off you go, and thanks again."

"Hey, it would be hypocritical if I pretended I was fine when I wasn't," he said, reminding her of her favorite lie, "Consider this a lesson in letting your friends help you." With a two fingered wave he disappeared.

"Anyone else come back from visiting the other guilds?" Lucy asked Levy, ignoring the girl's raised eyebrows at Loke's behavior. How Lucy interacted with her spirits was no one's business but here own.

"Yeah, Erza is back, and so is Mira. Wendy and Cana are still gone," Levy replied.

"Okay, I'm wiling to bet Cana got distracted by drinking, but that's fine. Wendy can handle herself, plus Sting and Rouge wouldn't let anything happen to her," Lucy thought out loud.

"Erza and Mira are re-enforcing the library foundations right now," Levy mentioned, and Lucy left to get the update.

"Oh, hello Lucy," Erza said, construction outfit on, "How was Crocus?"

"Great, things went much smoother than I could have hoped. How was Mermaid Heel?"

"It was good catching up with Milliana and Kagura, they were willing to loan 300,000 jewel to help with rebuilding. We just need the guild master to deposit the check," Erza said. Mira flew down from where she had been fixing the upper brackets for the bookshelves and lost her Satan Soul takeover.

"I had a similar story from Blue Pagasus. They respected me for my looks and model talent, so I was a good choice, but I can't say I have the same friendship and connections. Hibiki was actually a little disappointed you weren't able to come," Mira teased, Lucy brushed her off. "Anyway, Blue Pegasus gave a donation of 450,000 jewel, turns out they had seen a dragon destroy a Face while driving Christina. They know we saved their butts, and they wont accept repayment."

Lucy did some mental calculations then said, "So it looks like if we are going to continue, we need to vote a guild master to access the funds. Help spread the word that we'll be having a vote with all members present tomorrow morning at ten, okay?" Lucy asked, and the girls nodded. The rest of the day was spent with her and Taurus hauling wood and stone where Gajeel directed.

*********FAIRY*****TAIL*******

"Good morning Lucy!" Wendy said to her as she arrived, "Sting and Rogue are doing just fine. They much prefer the story of their dragons sleeping inside of them to them killing their parents. I think they handled it the best out of all of us."

"That's a relief," Lucy said, giving Wendy a hug.

"Oh, and they said they'll give whatever Fairy Tail needs to get back up and running. Something about needing a good competitor for the Games." Lucy laughed and together they joined the group of mages chatting by the entrance.

"Hello everyone," Lucy said when ten o'clock rolled around and no one had taken charge yet. She went to the front of the crowd and stood on a couple of stones that were waiting to be used in construction.

"Okay, we have an issue. Since Makarov has stepped down from being guild master and has refused to appoint someone in his stead, it's up to everyone here to vote on someone they would agree to follow through all the crazy crap Fairy Tail goes through. How this is going to work is someone is going to nominate a person, and if the person agrees, then another person must second the nomination. After we have all the people that have been nominated and seconded, we will have a single vote to see who people think should be guild master. Any questions?"

"This is too complicated," Gajeel complained, "why don't we just have an all out brawl and whoever is left standing gets to be guild master." Levy slapped him lightly on the arm.

"Don't be an idiot," she said, "It's not just the strongest person, in fact most other guilds don't have their guild master as their strongest member, since guild masters rarely take on jobs. The guild master is the person that will negotiate on behalf of the guild to the magic council, the person who decides who should be allowed to become a member, and the leader in times of crisis. A guild master will have to end up doing a lot of paperwork and needs to be able to organize all events. It has to be someone that can keep everyone in line and manage guild finances and complaints." Levy explained.

"That's why we're doing it this way," Lucy said, bringing attention back to her. "I will nominate Laxus. Do you agree to the nomination," Laxus hesitated, but nodded.

"I second that nomination!" Freed shouted, the rest of the Thunder Legion cheering as well.

"I have a nomination," Laxus said, quieting his team, "I nominate Lucy Heartphilia. She believes in Fairy Tail more than anyone, has experience directing groups, cares about people, and has kept those boneheads Natsu, Gray, and Erza in line and together. Something none of the rest of us, even Gramps, have been able to do for years."

"Plus she knows her way around law and finances," Erza mentioned, smiling.

"Lucy was rather impressive in getting the bank to dance to her tune, and she is close personal friends with the Princess," Mest added, ignoring Lucy's confused look. Suddenly everyone in the crowd was complimenting her, stating how she would make the perfect guild master. Her team was gone and she didn't like to go solo, so she would have plenty of time (that one hurt Lucy more than she would like to admit). During Fantasia Lucy was able to knock sense into everybody after they had spent the day fighting each other (all she said was that she was going to do it herself if they weren't going to help her! The same thing she said about rebuilding the guild!). Lucy was well connected to several of the other guilds (so was Erza and several other people!). Lucy was very giving with all of her things (okay, her team stealing her stuff does not mean she is a giving person). And finally, they would follow her because she was smart and always had her heart in the right place (where did that come from?)

"Hold it," Lucy said. She had to say it three times before she had their attention.

"Look, I'm flattered and all, but I can't be guild master. I'm not even S class and I'm severely emotionally unstable right now. Laxus and Mest can testify," she said.

"I wouldn't call crying out for your friends severely unstable," Laxus retorted, "And if we're looking for emotional stability, we're looking in the wrong guild after that last battle."

"Lucy, you took out a demon all by yourself when the rest of us were trapped in Algeria, and another one with Natsu's help." Erza said, "You have the power of an S class, if not the title." Everyone there was silently begging Lucy to accept the nomination, but the thought of Gemini screaming and crying as Lucy kept her from agreeing.

"You guys, I'm going to show you something, and it will be difficult for me, but it'll make you understand why I can't be guild master." Lucy said, then summoned Gemini. She apologized before asking them to transform into her.

"Anything for you Lucy," Gem said.

"We want to know what you are feeling so we can help," Mini chimed. With a poof there were two Lucy's standing next to each other. Fairy Tail started to grow restless when nothing happened.

"Give it a minute," Lucy said, cringing inside as she watched the twins absorb her psyche. Tears started forming in their eyes, and the second Lucy fell to one knee. It wasn't as dramatic as the first time around, but everyone watched Gemini cry.

"You hate that it has been over a month. You have Fairy Tail back, but you still feel lonely without Natsu and Happy. Natsu? Why did you leave? You are still crying over Aquarius, you are so determined that no find out you sacrificed your oldest friendship for the power to bring Fairy Tail back, and it makes you feel like a little girl. You don't know who you are without Natsu and Aquarius, and you love every spirit that has helped you so much, you don't think you deserve our love. You are so glad that the rest of the guild is helping you re-build Fairy Tail, you love every one of them so much, and are so sad for everything Tartarus did to them. B-but you are still so lonely."

Gemini started straight out bawling then. Lucy had planned on force closing the gate before anyone heard about Aquarius, but once again the sight of her inner turmoil brought to life had her stunned. It was actually nice that Gemini looked much better than the last time she was Lucy, there was a lot less pain in her expression. Maybe one day she would fully recover.

"Close Gate," Lucy said, only shaking a little bit. Then she turned back to the crowd of her family, "That's what's going on inside me."

"What do you mean you sacrificed Aquarius?" Wendy asked, scared. Lucy shifted where she stood, but realized there was no getting out of this explanation now. She held up the water bearer's key, so that everyone could see how broken it was. Several people gasped. You learned a couple of things about Lucy right away, one, she was kind. Two, she loved Fairy Tail. Three, she loved her spirits.

"I summoned her as my third spirit," Lucy said quietly, everyone else was silent "and then Aquarius explained that three spirits didn't have the power to take down Algeria, but if I nullified all my contracts with her, and broke her key, I would be able to summon the Celestial Spirit King. She begged me to, she knew it was the only way I would get out of there alive, and-and I did it."

"All in favor of Lucy Heartphilia becoming the seventh Guild Master of Fairy Tail, say Aye!" Erza yelled. There was a resound cheer, something the citizens of Magnolia had secretly missed, as every single person in the guild yelled with one voice.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"Well Master, what are your orders?" Mira asked, smiling.

"Huh?" Everyone just waited for her with knowing smiles.

"Ugh, you know what? I give up. You guys'll impeach me soon enough anyway," Lucy said, rubbing the bridge of her nose, thinking of what needed to be done. They wanted her, fine. "Okay, we need to finish fortifying the cellar and the records room. Everyone work on that and follow Gajeel's directions, Max, Levy, Freed, Erza and Elfman, I want you guys starting on the south corner of the guild with the metal braces, hopefully you guys can get enough done that when the rest of the underground is braced, people can start sealing in the stones."

"You heard the Master," Erza yelled, giving Lucy a wink. She just rolled her eyes and left to go deal with the guild's finances. Her family was full of idiot brats.

But she guessed that made her the leader of idiot brats.

**A/N: So, I'm posting this all at once, because I feel like it. It won't get many reviews or favorites because of that, but I don't actually care**


	3. Lucy is tired of Natsu's Crap

"Look Happy," Natsu said, pointing to where their guild flag flew proudly, "It looks better than ever!"

"I thought you didn't like it when the guild changed," Happy asked.

"All we've lived is change buddy, I think I'm over it," Natsu said, eyes shining, "Where should we go first?"

"I want to see Lucy," Happy said immediately. He loved Natsu, but while they were on a team with Lucy, Happy's family had gotten bigger, and he had felt that hole the entire trip. Natsu wasn't always the best to trade quips with. Don't get him wrong, Natsu was good, just not as good as Lucy. Nor was he as soft as Lucy was.

"Sounds good," Natsu replied, eager to see the girl he thought about every day, "Lucy is probably at the guild, let's say hi to everyone there first."

"Umm, are you sure Lucy isn't going to be angry with us?" Happy asked nervously. It had never felt right leaving a letter, but both of them knew it was the only way they would be able to leave her behind.

"Lucy is tough as nails, she might hit me a little, but she'll have gotten over it," Natsu assured him. The celestial spirit mage was one of the strongest people he knew, of course she would have been fine.

"Hey everybody! We're back!" Natsu shouted as he kicked open the door. He took a moment to appreciate the differences he could find in his friends. Levy's hair was longer, Erza was wearing new armor, Cana was wearing a shirt, Gajeel had gotten his hair cut, Droy had lost weight, Nab was handing a job to Mira, and Laxus was sitting in the middle of the room instead of to the side. Gray wasn't there because a fist wasn't currently being shoved in his face, but he would find that bastard later.

Everyone had turned to look at him when he burst open the door, "Welcome back Natsu," Lisanna said. There were mixed reactions from his guild mates, he guessed Lucy had told them how he left her. Still, he could smell her in the building, and that was all he really cared about at the moment. He would make it up to everyone else later.

"Where's my partner?" Natsu asked as he walked in and sat at the bar next to Mira.

"Who?" she asked pleasantly.

"Lucy? My partner? Geeze Mira, it's only been a year."

"I'm sorry, under your definitions of partners, you aren't supposed to leave the other behind. It had me confused," Mira said carefully. Ouch, Natsu hadn't been expecting that from the sweet girl.

"Look, I really need to see Lucy. The sooner I make it up to her, the better," he begged.

Mira hesitated and looked up at the second floor before answering. "Sorry, the guild master is in a meeting all afternoon with an important client. I can pass on a message," she said. Now Natsu rolled his eyes.

"I don't want to see Gramps," Natsu explained carefully, "I want to see Lucy. Will you just answer my question?" Why was Mira being so…not understanding?

"Please Mira?" Happy begged. Mira looked conflicted, but Cana answered him after chugging from her barrel and slamming it next to him.

"Geeze, didn't you pick up a Sorcerer Weekly while you were away? Lucy is guild master you idiot. It was all over the news after we won the Grand Magic Games last month," she said, eyes gleaming. For some reason he got the impression that she wanted to hit him, but he couldn't pay attention to that compared to her news.

"Wait, Lucy is Gramps? Where's Gramps?" Natsu asked, looking around, as though expecting the old man to wave a beer mug at him from a table.

"He retired and disbanded Fairy Tail," Mira said. "Lucy refused to let that happen, turns out she couldn't stand losing you, Happy, and Fairy Tail. So she saved the only one she could. We voted her guild master a little after that." Mira explained, glaring at him. She thought for a moment about adding Aquarius to the list, but that was something Lucy should be allowed to decide if he should know.

Natsu might have told Happy he could process change, but this was too much even for him.

"But Lucy isn't S-class," He murmured, trying to figure it all out. Cana snorted.

"She is now; she gave the complete running of the trial over to Erza, Mira, Gildarts, and Laxus. She won with me as her partner. You should have seen her destroy Evergreen. Seriously, mentioning you was the biggest mistake of Ever's entire trial." Cana was looking at him, and he was sure she wanted to punch him, and Natsu felt nervous for the first time since coming into the guild. Lucy didn't lose her cool, not like Cana was suggesting.

"When can I see her?" Natsu asked, this wasn't in the plan at all. At that moment Lucy entered the main room, laughing and shaking hands with an elderly woman.

"Wasn't that woman screaming about suing Fairy Tail for destroying her house?" Cana whispered to Mira, who nodded.

"I'm so glad to have finally met a sensible wizard," the woman said, shaking Lucy's hand one last time before leaving.

"Can't wait to do business with you again Noel!" Lucy called after the woman, smiling. As soon as she had exited the guild, Lucy turned stony. She marched over to Gajeel and pulled him by the ear down to her level. He nearly chocked on his fork.

"You were hired to get rid of her child's animated iron toy and you destroyed her house! Just because she calls Pantherlily dirty doesn't give you the right to destroy other people's property. Grow up!"

"Nobody is allowed to go around insulting my cat." Gajeel growled back.

"Fine, don't let any bad guys insult your cat, but leave magicless old ladies their opinions, it's all they have. As punishment, guess who is going to be a part of the rebuilding crew? Good thing you got all that experience with the guild hall. And Pantherlily, since you didn't do anything wrong, feel free to do what you like. The client claimed she would never have said that about you if she knew you were an Exceed." Natsu was expecting a fight to break out right then and there. No one bossed Gajeel around like that, especially over something as silly as one house being destroyed. Instead Gajeel grunted and nodded.

Natsu started laughing then, his Lucy was guild master and shutting Gajeel up, scolding him for doing the same things the two of them had done for years. Granted, they hadn't ever destroyed an old woman's house, but still.

"Something funny… Natsu?" Lucy turned to face the returned fire mage, and the most disturbing part was that Natsu couldn't figure out what she was thinking. He had always been able to read Lucy like an open book, and know exactly how to respond. A second later Loke was at her side, tugging on her arm so that she was behind him.

"Lucy? What's wrong?" Loke demanded searching for a threat. Then his eyes landed on Natsu and he relaxed his battle stance, but wrinkled his nose.

"Oh, it's you," he said disgustedly, then turned from him and back to Lucy, "Come on Lucy, he isn't worth it. You still have some work to do."

"I-I," Lucy stuttered, Loke forced her eyes to meet his by grabbing her face, and she gained confidence, "You're right. I-I still have those interview requests to go over," she said, then turned, rather mechanically, and started walking back to her office.

"Come on Lucy," Natsu complained, "I'm gone for a year and I don't even get a 'welcome back'?"

Lucy stopped walking, and the entire guild was watching the drama, some quick bets were being made in the corners. "Welcome back Natsu. I'm the guild master, Mira is still assistant. When you take a job report to her. I have work to do." Lucy said, without turning to look at him. Happy started crying then, he flew over and gave Lucy a hug. At first she seemed surprised, but as Happy kept crying about how much he missed her and all her fish, she relaxed. Natsu finally saw an expression he was familiar with, Lucy's motherly side.

"Shh, Happy, it's okay, I'm here. Now come on, you didn't think you could just come back after a year and have nothing change, did you? A lot can happen in a year." Happy wouldn't let go of her, so she threw an apologetic look over at Natsu and went into her office with a crying Happy and an annoyed lion spirit.

"Okay, what?" Natsu asked. Laxus felt the need to step in.

"Lucy was broken when you left, she held together through sheer willpower and guts. Those first two months Lucy broke down more times than I care to remember. I'm guessing she cut you out of her life in an act of self-preservation, so leave her alone."

"Like Hell am I going to leave her alone," Natsu growled. Suddenly Laxus and Erza were towering over him. It was a bit more difficult since his growth spurt, but it still wasn't a very cheering sight.

"I **know** you were not just threatening to add emotional turmoil to our guild master," Erza threatened, a sword in hand and the devil in her eyes.

"Hey, I have saved Lucy's life and emotions far more times than you can even imagine. It's not fair that she's mad at me for taking time to myself," Natsu argued, though it sounded hollow in his own ears.

"Let's see if that year was worth it," Gajeel grinned from his seat, suddenly aiming a punch at the other dragon slayer. A brawl broke out, and for a moment, Natsu forgot Lucy and just enjoyed the feeling of being with his nakama again.

Of course, that meant that the brawl had to be calmed by Loke and Capricorn, which wasn't very fun because they seemed to take extra pleasure in throwing him out, several of Loke's punches seemed unnecessary, but he knew exactly where he needed to go.

Lucy's apartment was almost exactly as he remembered it, especially from his view perched on the window sill, which Lucy kindly left open for him. There was less meat in the fridge and less fish in the freezer, and the curtains had been changed again (he wondered who had ruined them this time) and the writing desk was still a disorganized mess. A quick peek showed that Lucy was currently writing something called 'Epilogue', whatever that was. Though there was something different. Looking around, he finally figured it out, there were no more pictures of him and Lucy together, or any of him at all.

That was… discouraging. He flopped on her bed and took a moment to appreciate her special smell, it was part the body wash she always used, part celestial magic, and part Lucy. Of course, being surrounded by her smell made it much more obvious how much he stank from the road. So he took a shower while he waited, and then accidentally fell asleep on her bed when she still wasn't back.

Loke and Erza both promised that even Natsu wouldn't be stupid enough to try and break into her apartment after all this time, but Lucy had her doubts. Still, if she had to face him, her apartment by herself was how she wanted to do it. Loke had already broken through his gate once, and he was under strict orders not to do that again just because she saw Natsu. Natsu was a member of her guild and she needed to be able to look at him without feeling the need to break down in sobs, anger, or confusion. Natsu left her a note, just like her father, just like her mother, so she categorized him with the dead. He didn't deserve any part of her after leaving her broken like that.

Lucy hesitated when she noticed her window was open, but then remembered she had left it open to clear out the smell of bleach she had used to get out Wendy's blood stains from the past couple of days. This morning was the first day she had let the girl go back to Fairy Hills, with strict orders to spend another day resting. Wendy was probably going to be so excited Natsu was back, when both he and Gray hadn't given any indication of what they were up to, it was hard on the sky dragon slayer. At least Juvia sent a note to Gajeel and Lucy once a month, so they knew Gray was alive and their general location.

Everything looked to be in place, though she had lost the habit of noting everything's special spot when she had stopped having weekly intruders. It was quiet. She had sent Happy to Wendy and Charla about an hour ago. Still, she treaded carefully, only to find her bathroom door open and a fire dragonslayer sleeping on her bed.

He looked just like he always did when he was asleep, peaceful, though there were more scars and his hair was a mess. Natsu had been a back sleeper, she remembered, but he was sleeping on his side now. Probably to minimize the rocks under him while camping.

No. She wasn't doing this, she was going to be worse than angry at him, she was going to be apathetic. Lucy was an S-class guild master of the most powerful guild of Fiore, and she wasn't going to let him mess with her any more. It didn't matter what Happy said about Natsu talking about her in his sleep. She had given him the power to break her, and he used it, there is no reason he wouldn't just up and leave again, and she couldn't risk that.

She was strong, but not that strong.

"Oi, Dragneel," Lucy said harshly, pulling her quilt out from under him, leaving him sprawled on the floor at her feet.

"Lucy," Natsu whined, rubbing the part of his head that hit the floor, "Why did you do that?"

"Because I don't want you in my bed or in my house," she said blankly.

"I don't understand, I'm your partner, what changed to make you hate me?" Natsu asked, hurt.

"You changed Natsu," Lucy said, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards her window, "You left me alone, and I can't risk you ever doing that again, now out."

"How did I leave you alone?" Natsu demanded, stopping her from tossing him out the window. "I left you a note, you've had everything else. I know how strong and independent you are, what changed?"

"I lost my oldest friend, my best friend, and my guild in one shot. Now get out, I can't do this," she said. Lucy left him standing by the window while she went to the bathroom to shower. When she came out in a towel, he was gone. She didn't know what she expected from him anymore, and was proud of herself for only crying a little bit that night.

The next day:

"Natsu, what are you doing here?" Lucy asked hesitantly after opening her door to find the dragon slayer waiting for her.

"Well, you've decided that I can't be a big part of your life because I might leave you. But I've decided that I don't want to ever leave you again. So, we seem to be at an impasse," he said, smiling at his own use of the word. Lucy forced her features into a poker face.

"Let me guess, you are going to stick by my side until I change my mind," Lucy asked, "I will sic Erza on you."

"I prefer to think of it as a compromise," Natsu said. "I just want to be here Lucy, give me the chance to prove to you that I won't leave you again." Lucy looked at him, searching for honesty, and found the subtle differences that the year had given him. Longer hair, more muscle, another inch in height over her, a small scar on his face just in front of his ear, and a little tanner than when he left her. He seemed honest, but that didn't matter.

"You left me like my dad did, like Gildarts leaves Cana, with a note. I don't think you understand how much I don't trust you right now," she said.

"I think you are underestimating how much I missed you," Natsu shot back. Okay, this argument was ridiculous.

"You are banned from my apartment, Levy is coming by this afternoon to set the barrier, but as your guild master I can't stop you from interacting with me." Lucy turned then and walked to the guild, resisting the urge to walk on the retaining wall like she always does. He didn't get to see that part of her anymore.

"I'll take what I can get," Natsu said, walking beside her, quiet for a minute, before he started talking, "you know when I was gone, about six months in, I started panicking because I couldn't find the constellations you pointed out to me. We were up in the mountains and there were too many stars for me to find the specific ones. It was like sleeping under a million lamps. I left the next day, went to the nearest library, and read an entire book on constellations. I memorized the color of every star in the Andromeda constellation and all the ones on your keys. I could always find them after that." Natsu trailed off in memory, and Lucy refused to respond.

"I also decided to start working on my mind while I was at that library. I bought a book of riddles, a book of crosswords, and a book of Sudoku. Happy was in charge of the book of riddles and I almost went mad when I was stuck on one for two weeks, but Happy was vicious about it. I wasn't allowed another riddle until I solved the first one. I traded between doing Sudoku and crosswords at night."

Lucy almost let the surprise on her face show, she would have never guess he included his brain in part of the training, but she kept the façade. Natsu wasn't going to get to her, not with sweet stories, not with interesting stories, not even when his cat flew to give her a hug as soon as she walked through the doors.

"Lushi!" Happy said, "does this mean you've forgiven Natsu?"

"No." she said, ignoring the heartbroken look on the cat's face, "Now I'll be in my office making sure all my paperwork is done so I can go to the guild master's meeting tomorrow."

"We still going out tonight?" Lisanna asked.

"Of course, I'm trying to get it finished early, so no more bodies flying through my office." Lucy scolded with a small smile, bringing a laugh from several members who were there for that incident.

She set Happy next to Lisanna and went into her office. Using a light pen to activate the runes that would block out noise, she regretted that there wasn't a spell that could stop her from thinking about Natsu.

He walked her home, and she half expected him to crash her girl's night out, but he kept his distance. She did forget to get Levy to put on the Natsu repellant runes, and there may have been a moment where she crashed on the floor drunk and someone put her on her bed, but she couldn't remember. Lucy had more alcohol than she usual that night.

The next morning, a wonderful headache cure later, (there was a new girl in the guild, an eleven-year-old potions prodigy, Lena, and Erza was currently teaching her knife fighting to shore up her physical weaknesses) and Lucy had her bags packed for her weekend in Clover. At least she knew Natsu wouldn't follow her there, it would involve voluntarily getting on a train.

"Hey Lucy," Natsu told her at the station, ticket in hand.

"You're willingly getting on a train?" Lucy asked, skeptical, "I'm not taking care of you."

"I don't get motion sick anymore," Natsu told her, grinning, "It was Igneel inside me that got sick. A creature used to flying couldn't stand being carried by transportation inside another piece of transportation. That's why when I flew with Happy or another friend I never got sick."

Lucy was suddenly imagining the grand dragon that raised Natsu, his cheeks full of throw up and stumbling around all because Natsu got on a train. She hurried onto the train, hoping he wouldn't see her smile. All the private compartments were full, so she ended up sitting next to Natsu in the main area. Determined not to talk to him, she turned to the woman with two kids sleeping on her sitting next to her and started up a conversation about what the woman thought of the Grand Magic Games this year.

"Oh, they are so exciting to watch, but now Tamara here wants to be a wizard. Fairy Tail is her favorite, and she was so scared about that rumor that they weren't going to be competing this last year," The mother said, stroking her daughter's hair.

"Fairy Tail is my favorite too, I'm glad they were able to pull themselves together. Does your family have any experience with magic?" Lucy asked, smiling, covering her hand because she wanted a normal conversation.

"We've hired them on occasion for things, special décor and finding lost items, but my family has been avid architects for as long as I can remember. Still, Tamara doesn't have the patience for architecture, so maybe she will fulfill her dream of being in Fairy Tail one day. I just wish it wasn't so dangerous," she said, frowning.

"I agree, the price of being able to use magic is really high, but hopefully it won't be so dangerous in the future." Lucy said, "All the biggest dark guilds are gone, and the small ones are practically non-existent. If she joins a good guild, especially Fairy Tail, you can be sure they'll make sure no one hurts her." Lucy confided.

"I suppose you're right, from the way they act during the GMG, each member might as well be their sibling. Still, a mother worries, you know? Do you have children?"

"I understand, worrying is part of becoming a mother," Lucy agreed, watching the mother and daughter, "I don't have kids, but I'm excited for when I get the chance to be a mother. My mother died when I was young, so I don't know how good of one I'll be, but that hasn't stopped me from doing things before," Lucy joked, eliciting a laugh from her new friend.

"Of course you'll be a great mother Lucy," Natsu said, joining the conversation. "You care about everyone around you so much, yet you don't let them do anything bad for themselves either. Plus the way you take care of Happy? It's obvious." Lucy turned to glare at him, but the woman commented first.

"Oh, are you her boyfriend?"

"No," Lucy growled, "he is a nuisance."

"She's my partner," Natsu tried to clarify.

"No I'm not, stop saying that!" Lucy demanded. The girl laying on her mother's lap, Tamara, woke up and Lucy instantly felt guilty.

"What's going on mommy?" she asked, blinking sleep out of her eyes. She seemed to be blinking a lot, then she let out an excited shriek.

"You're Lucy of Fairy Tail!" she yelled.

"Shh," Lucy said, putting a hand over the little girl's mouth, "there are other people sleeping." Indeed, because it was so early in the morning and a long ride to Clover, many people had been catching a few extra minutes of shut eye.

"But you're so cool! You beat everyone in puzzle game so that Fairy Tail would get to choose their challenge first. And even though most people had never heard of Shritshrome's guild Pheonix Talon, you still treated them like a worthy opponent and everyone saw you warning your members about them and studying them. Plus the year before you were so brave, taking so many hits so that your team would stay in the competition. You were so good people had to cheat to beat you. They didn't get caught, but anyone with eyes could see that was what happened."

"Aww, thanks," Lucy said, blushing.

"Oh, I feel like such an idiot right now," Tamara's mother laughed, "I recognize you. You've grown out your hair a bit and aren't dressed up, but it's obvious. You're the guild master of Fairy Tail then?"

"Yeah, I'm heading to Clover for a guild master's conference."

"Can I join Fairy Tail?" Tamara asked stars in her eyes.

"Sorry, we only take younger members under extraordinary circumstances. You wouldn't want to make your momma sad by moving to Magnolia right now, do you?" Lucy said awkwardly.

"But at home they make me do math and stuff," Tamara complained.

"You need math, how else are you supposed to figure out what kind of house you want to build with your money from the Grand Magic Games and wizard jobs? Or how to spend that money at all?" Lucy explained back. That set the girl thinking, and her mother mouthed "thank you".

"Okay, once I learn the math and stuff, then can I join Fairy Tail?" she asked. Lucy pretended to think over it hard.

"Do you love your family?" Lucy asked seriously.

"Yes."

"Do you promise to always defend the name of Fairy Tail and everything that it stands for?"

"Yes."

"Do you live every day to the fullest? Always working hard for the happiness that you want while being happy taking the path to get there?"

"I promise," the girl was practically vibrating with the intensity of her oath.

"Do you like strawberry cake?" Lucy asked this question with the same seriousness as the others.

"Yes!" she yelled. Lucy relaxed then and smiled at the girl.

"There you go, you learn enough to make your momma proud, show up at Fairy Tail and we'll see about getting you one of these." Lucy said, pointing to her mark. The adults could swear that Tamara had died and gone to heaven.

"Oh, I'm so excited, where should I get my mark? Why did you get your mark on your hand? I think I would get distracted and spend all day looking at it," Tamara said, practically jumping in her seat.

"I do get distracted sometimes," Lucy admitted, admiring her right hand, "but I wanted it that way. I wanted something that I could always see and remember who I am. Plus I'm a writer, and I call on my friends with this hand. I like to keep everything important to me in one spot."

Tamara nodded seriously. "Why did you put yours on your shoulder?" Tamara asked turning to Natsu. He examined his own mark, thinking deeply about the question.

"I was one of those extreme circumstances kids who joined when they were really young, so I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time, but I like it there. I can protect everyone with this arm, and my mark is the last thing the bad people see after I make them go away. I did it for Fairy Tail, for the people I care about." Natsu said the last sentence staring at Lucy, and while Lucy wasn't going to yell at Natsu in front of her fan, she wasn't going to let him get away with something like that either, and glared.

Tamara was looking at all the different parts of her body, trying to decide where she wanted her future mark. She stared at her brother, sleeping sitting up on her mom's other side, and smiled.

"I know where I want it, right here," and she pointed to the back of her neck, "Jack was telling me about how that's the weakest point on the human body, that hurting it can do all sorts of terrible things to you, but if I have my Fairy Tail mark right there, it'll be like my family is protecting my weakest point," she said smiling, proud of her logic, and Natsu and Lucy just loved it.

"I think that's a brilliant choice," Lucy said, putting an arm around the girl's shoulders. "Now, you can't come until you've made sure your mom is going to be happy without you, okay?"

"I promise." Tamara said, smiling at her mother.

They spent the rest of the train ride with Tamara and her brother, who woke up a little while after, answering their questions about what it was like to be a wizard.

They got off at the end of the day and Lucy just rolled her eyes when Natsu followed her to her prescribed hotel.

"Okay, so I'm going to go to the conference room and register that I'm here, you do whatever you want," she said and checked in at the conference's front desk. The guild masters weren't actually doing any meeting things or party things until the morning, so she returned early after grabbing a bite to eat from the hotel, only to find Natsu sleeping on the floor. Tip-toeing around him, she got herself ready for bed. Tucking herself in, she listened to his steady, quiet breathing, and tried to keep the scar of her emotions in her mind. Natsu wasn't getting anything from her.

"Hey Lucy, how's it going?" The guild master of Quatro Cerberus asked as Lucy and Natsu entered. Lucy didn't know how Natsu got the security to let him through, but she still hadn't been able to shake him. The only reason she hadn't kicked him out herself was his promise of absolute silence in all matters guild. Her spirits would be more than happy to make him leave if he uttered anything, but she didn't want to show weakness in front of the other guild masters by being unable to keep one of her own out of an official meeting. Pretending like he was supposed to be there, that would be a sign of power.

"Great, the jobs are filing in and my family is stepping up to the task," Lucy commented, grabbing a soda before other new-comers could drink them all.

"I hear you got some new blood in as well. Keeping up Makarov's tradition of letting in anyone who thinks they can handle it?" He teased.

"Only way to do it," Lucy smirked back, "who am I to say someone doesn't have the guts? If they can't handle it, they leave, and if they can, they belong there anyway. You should see some of the stuff our newest kid can do; her alchemy is off the charts. I think she'll get along great with our new stone make mage."

They chatted while Natsu kept his promise of keeping quiet, and Master Bob came over to talk to Lucy about Fairy Tail as well.

"So wonderful for you to have your handsome boys back," Master Bob said, eyeing Natsu, "You don't think that a year would be enough time for them to be willing to join a new guild, do you?"

Natsu turned pale and scooted away, while Lucy just laughed. His entire demeanor changed as he stopped and let himself watch Lucy laugh. It was a sweet sound, loud and full of emotion, and he hadn't heard it in far too long.

"You know the rules," she said, "it's all up to the wizard whether they are willing to switch guilds. Still, my boys were raised by Fairy Tail, they've been marked by this guild for more than half their lives, and I doubt they will welcome any offers." Natsu felt a little bud of hope in his chest. He was still Lucy's family, she wouldn't, couldn't ever completely turn on him, and that gave him all the time in the world to try and make things right with her.

Master Bob sighed good-naturedly, "I suppose having a pretty young thing like you as guild master isn't helping my case. I'll just have to wait for you to get married before trying again." He winked at Lucy and she blushed while rolling her eyes.

"Hey, every woman in Fairy Tail is beautiful, we would have more modeling shoots than Blue Pegasus, if we ever manage to stop destroying cameras. If you're waiting for them to all be taken, you'll be waiting a long time my friend," she said taking a gulp of her drink.

"I suppose even longer if your new additions prove to grow up half as beautiful and passionate as you and yours did." Master Bob said, making Lucy blush even more.

"Don't forget powerful," and new voice said, an arm being slung over Lucy's shoulder and drawing her close, "Fairy Tail beat us all once again in the GMG. They still won't admit who their master strategist is so we can lure them away and give everyone else a fighting chance." Sting had arrived, and Lucy laughed and hugged him back.

"I've only ever told you the truth about our strategist," Lucy joked.

Sting rolled his eyes, "You expect me to believe that your first guild master's spirit directs your strategies? Give me some credit Lu." It was only then that Sting's nose recognized the burning embers smell on her that had been missing for the past year. He looked over Lucy's shoulder and grinned, "Oi Natsu! Your back!" Sting said, releasing Lucy to grab forearms with his friend. "So supposedly you're five times stronger if you've spent every day for over the past year training. You up for a rematch?"

"Name the time and place," Natsu said, grinning.

"What are you doing here anyway? One would think you started your own guild if it wasn't for the mark on your arm," Sting asked.

"Natsu is being a persistent bug," Lucy said, drawing Sting away, "He's upset that I don't consider him a partner and is trying to get me to forgive him by not leaving me alone until I do. Please ignore him. Now come on, the business for today is starting." Sting groaned and let Lucy lead him to a large table in the center of the room.

"Okay, first we will be taking attendance and recounting current standings and statistics among the guilds before stating business to be decided. As a reminder, we will announce an item of business and then anyone with statements to make regarding the announcement will be given a chance to speak. We will then vote on if we are ready to take a vote. If ¾ are ready, we will vote right there. If 3/4ths majority claiming they are ready to vote is not achieved, we will continue onto the next topic of business and revisit it after a three hour period. An item of business must have a 2/3rds majority to pass. This cycle will repeat until 8 o'clock at night and masters will be dismissed until we re-convene tomorrow morning. The conference will end when all items of business are voted on to the satisfaction of the Council."

It all sounded rather boring and tedious to Natsu, but he promised Happy that he wouldn't give up until Lucy agreed to be their partner again. It was all things like S-class quest approval, what clients are allowed to appeal to what guilds, (there was a lot of grumbling that Fairy Tail took too many clients away from their home guilds, but Lucy didn't let it bother her) how to deal with immediate/emergency requests, and a bunch of other boring technical stuff he didn't care about. He spent the time watching Lucy and Sting instead. They seemed to have developed a system for keeping each other awake, usually Lucy to Sting by stepping on his foot, but there was at least twice in this first meeting that had Sting flicking paper at Lucy.

It was interesting to note that Fairy Tail, though smaller in numbers than many of the other guilds, kept equal to everyone on jobs completed and revenue garnered, and even topped the most requested statistic.

Then came the final item of business that held everyone's attention.

"The Magic Council is requesting that all guilds create criminal records of their members and allow the Magic Council to conduct a thorough investigation of the members with records. This has been decided as the prime course of action to prevent any future dark guilds from being created." Before the supervisor could even ask who had something to say on the topic, Lucy reacted.

"I object whole-heartedly," she demanded, standing up and slamming her hand on the table.

"Guild Master Lucy, please wait your turn," the coordinator said, annoyed.

"This shouldn't even be on the table, so your rules are void," Lucy answered, glaring fierce enough to get him to shut up; it shut everyone else at the table up as well. It was a hardened glare, a blade of steel forged in passion and tempered in experience. The switch was as immediate as it was unexpected.

"There is no reason why those who have had crimes in the past and repented should be dragged in front of a magic council. It's just as much a power play as a preventive measure by the Magic Council to show they have power, and it will do nothing good to drag up past for those who have repented. There is very little chance for people who repented from a dark guild to go and form a new one. The best course of action is to show that legal guilds are better than dark guilds by showing mercy and leaving the penitent in peace."

"Who in your guild are you looking to protect?" a muscled man six seats down from Lucy asked. Natsu then realized that they were seated according to standings, Lucy and Sting were next to each other at the head, Master Bob near them, and Lucy was practically yelling in the face of the moderator. Lucy glared at the questioner.

"I am protecting everybody that has asked me to by joining my guild. I'm not the only one. Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, and Saber Tooth all have members that would be put through undue stress and emotional turmoil if this request is passed, not to mention it will hinder our mages from taking jobs to make their livelihood."

"It sounds to me," the same man drawled, "that Fairy Tail is far more concerned with keeping their guild at the top of the rankings than making sure no more dark guilds form. You are protecting everybody you say? That would be a serious toll on your numbers." Natsu wanted to punch him.

"Are you implying that Fairy Tail and myself are not concerned with dark guilds forming?" Lucy asked, seething.

"Merely that you are more concerned with the top spot than the safety of Fiore, after all, if you are fighting this hard, it must be some of your strongest members you are protecting," he said condescendingly.

"I would fight this strongly for the member that joined last week," Lucy stated, "And as one who has suffered great personal cost to defeat not one dark guild, but all three guilds of the Barum Alliance, and as the only guild master here who can say that with full confidence, let me assure you that keeping dark guilds from forming is a top priority. Fairy Tail takes great care in assuring the repentance of members who have once strayed to darker paths and I will not let disrupt the lives of my family to dredge up the worst parts of their pasts out of a misguided sense of justice."

"Please seat yourself Guild Master Lucy, no one is trying to accuse Fairy Tail of a love of dark guilds, correct?" The coordinator glanced around the table to see if anyone was willing to make that accusation.

"In all honesty, how could Miss Heartphilia know that her guild members are feeling? It doesn't take much to turn the famous Fairy Tail fires of passion. Was it not a former Fairy Tail guild master who founded and headed Grimoire Heart?" A different lady added skeptically, she wasn't as young as Lucy and Sting, but younger than many of the guild masters in attendance.

"Precht started Grimiore Heart after leaving Fairy Tail, his quest was the one magic," Lucy said, glaring at the woman, "That path led him to Zeref and destruction. Precht had no previous criminal record that I am aware of, he was spotless. There is no evidence of condone this action." Lucy still hadn't sat down, and now Sting was standing next to her.

"Saber Tooth backs Fairy Tail on this motion. Those that have repented and left the past in the past should be allowed to keep it that way. Unless the magic council can prove they have broken law since re-instatement, the Council should not be allowed to disrupt stable guild life."

Suddenly everyone else was standing up and arguing and the moderator was desperately trying to regain order. Finally the security team Natsu was standing next to moved into action and the guild masters had a freezing spell laid on them.

"This is the worst behavior I have ever seen at these meetings, I certainly expected better from you Guild Master Lucy," the moderator said, looking down his nose at her. Lucy used that moment to lunge forward and snap her teeth at the official, only going a couple of inches, but doing enough to scare him into emitting a girly shriek, which left all the guild masters chuckling.

"Despite this disorder, that was the finial item of business. We will have a recess of three hours, discuss what you need to and we will re-convene at 4 o'clock." The spell was lifted and Lucy made a point of straightening her outfit and looking unruffled.

"Dang, that's my girl," Sting said, pulling Lucy in to give her a nuggie, "Tough as nails and fierce as fire."

"Sting!" Lucy protested, "Stop it!" He released her and went to get a drink. Lucy walked over to Natsu then.

"So, I'm surprised you didn't jump in and start shouting," she said casually, taking a position near him.

"I learned my lesson when I interrupted Erza's meeting with the Magic Council, you guys usually have some hidden politics that I could have badly messed up." Natsu explained, "You wouldn't have appreciated the gesture, and it looked like you had it under control. Up until the mob of course, I was right beside you when you were frozen, and you looked angry enough to make it easy to come back here."

"That's…really mature of you," Lucy said, surprising herself.

"Who was the hag that knew about Hades anyway?" Natsu asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Ugh, Madame Dubois, she's the guild master of Mermaid Heel and still holds a grudge at Fairy Tail for beating Kagura, twice now. I didn't help anything by tricking her at the most recent GMG. I was actually surprised she sided against me though, Milianna would get dragged away by the Council for questioning if this went through."

"Why would Milianna be under investigation?" Natsu asked. Lucy looked at him, confused.

"She kidnapped Erza, helped Jellal set off an etherion blast, and used magic offensively against non-magic users," Lucy answered.

"Who else do you think would be effected by this Lucy dear?" Master Bob asked, joining the conversation. Lucy thought for a moment.

"Sting's Lady would be questioned for associations with Tartarus, Lyon Vastia could be charged with illegal demon transportation and black magic, as would several of his friends in Lamia Scale, and of course, half of Fairy Tail would be hauled in for questioning and clearance." Lucy informed her good friend, accepting a drink from Sting, who had joined the conversation, "Blue Pegasus has no one with criminal records that I am aware of, but I assume I can count on your support none-the-less?" she hinted.

"I believe so Lucy, I think people who were once full of darkness and have seen the light are the least likely to be going around causing trouble," Master Bob stated.

"That's good to hear," Sting said, "If we can convince old Baba of Lamia Scale, then we have four of the ten on our side."

"Ten what?" Natsu asked. Lucy decided to let Sting explain, though Natsu was technically breaking her rules.

"The voting, the top ten guilds have three votes for every other guild's one, and if over half of the top vote greatly opposed, the council can do didly squat. The magic council as it is doesn't have enough power to fight off that many prominent mages." Natsu looked at Lucy, still confused.

"By greatly opposed, we mean violently opposed," she clarified, "And the council will have to drag our members away over my corpse, so that's a safe bet to our vote. Sting, you go convince Baba of our plan and then have her talk to Dubois. That Lady hates everyone but respects Baba for some reason. Bob, you and me will gauge the feelings of everyone else. I will also be making a motion to vote on this issue first when we reconvene."

"Sounds like a plan. You know, I bet you're the secret mastermind behind you Games strategies," Sting hedged, but Lucy just smiled secretively.

"Natsu, you get yourself a drink and continue to keep quiet, this is a delicate matter and it wouldn't surprise me if someone tried to call foul on you being here," Lucy said, already eyeing a nearby group of guild masters. Natsu mimed zipping his lip and headed to the drinks table.

It was fun for him to watch Lucy work. She may have never been meant for life alone in a stuffy mansion and winning money off of people, but it would be a lie to say she had no merchant blood in her. She worked the room, casually joining in conversations and asking people about their lives before starting to sell her ideals. She seemed to know something about everyone there, even engaging Twilight Ogre's Master in asking about how his daughter was liking her new job as a waitress.

Not to say she didn't get heated with people, she randomly knocked a couple of people's heads together after they said something about Lucy herself being dragged in front of the council, but it wasn't a big as it could have been from the Lucy Natsu knew.

She came back to him after an hour of working and slumped at his table. He pushed some food towards her that she gratefully ate.

"How do you know so much about these people?" Natsu asked after she scarfed half the plate and started to slow down. She looked at him questioningly and he just tapped his ear.

"Ugh, I forgot about that stupid dragon hearing of yours. Let me guess, you trained that too? Master Bob actually coached me on a lot of the guild master's personalities and lives, I spent the entire weekend before the second conference memorizing the fact sheets he had Hibiki send me. I was so awkward and nervous the first time I was at this thing, he took pity on me. Plus Fairy Tail was his old guild, he couldn't let an incompetent master destroy it."

"You weren't incompetent Seventh," Mavis said, appearing at their table, "you were nervous and showing it like you show all your emotions. Master Bob wouldn't have helped you if he thought you couldn't do it."

"Hello First, what brings you here?" Lucy asked politely while Natsu grinned. He bet none of the other guilds had a super smart child ghost helping them out, proving once again that Fairy Tail was the best.

"The guild heard that Natsu had followed you out here and sent me to make sure you hadn't killed him yet, or to tell them if you had started making out," the girl said casually. Lucy choked for a second on a piece of fish and Natsu had to pound her on the back before she could talk again.

"That stupid Mira," Lucy muttered before directing her attention to Mavis, "well as you can see, Natsu is not dead, nor are we together. Stick around if you want. Sting still doesn't think you exist, so feel free to haunt him if he isn't talking business." Mavis laughed.

"He is so fun to tease, I think I'll do just that," she said and skipped off giggling. Lucy groaned.

"Back to work, though why I work for those morons I don't even know."

"One more thing before you go," Natsu said, grabbing her hand to stop her. She glared at their hands, him grabbing hers like so many times before. Natsu realized it was the first non-violent physical contact they had had since he had returned and let go with a small blush.

"Sorry, um, who in our guild are you trying to protect?" he asked, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

"You're joking," she said and watched him blush even more when he shook his head.

"Gajeel and Juvia could both be charged with kidnapping and abuse of magic power," she started ticking incidences off her fingers, "Laxus and his team have a huge black mark for holding hostages and nearly killing the entire city of Magnolia, Erza has helped Jellal too many times to be legal, and before Bisca joined she was a complete crook."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Natsu said sheepishly.

"It's okay, you were supposed to. They have completely redeemed themselves and are considered just as trust worthy as every other member of the guild. That's how it should be, and it will stay that way if I have to fight them for it." Lucy glared at where the council representative was watching from afar, and Natsu felt the need to change topics as she furiously ate the last of his food.

"What's Jellal been up to?" he asked.

"That's another reason to fight this, Fairy Tail is known to have close ties with the independent guild Crime Sorcerie. If we dance to the council's tune on this, then soon enough we will be helping them take out Jellal and his guild. All of them belong locked up according to the Council, and Fairy Tail won't let that happen. They've been chasing any sense of Zeref they can get, according to Meredy's last letter they swore they were right on his tail."

"Right. Now you go fight for Fairy Tail," Natsu said, and Lucy gave him a true smile. Then of course she remembered she was supposed to be mad at him, but Natsu gave her until the end of the trip before he was completely forgiven. She went back to circling and Natsu could swear she was glowing. She looked so happy, not as happy as when they were off on adventures together, but happy. Watching her though, he started to notice something new. Her hands would constantly flutter to her keys, as though reassuring herself with their familiar texture. There was a time when someone asked Lucy about her ten golden keys, and Lucy's face broke for a fraction of a second. He didn't know what that meant though.

Lucy was beautiful, but she was also broken. Natsu could only imagine how much more she showed when he first left. Lucy wore everything she was feeling on her sleeve, the trick always had been being by her side when things happened so you could see it. Then and there, he promised himself again that he would be able to see those precious feelings of hers whenever he could. If she kept shutting him out, putting up walls barbed with spikes of her shattered self, he would sit there and run his fingers along the points, bleeding with her until she was well enough to let him in again. Lucy was worth it.

"You're Fairy Tail's Salamander," the buff guy that insinuated Fairy Tail was pro dark guild had come up to Natsu and started speaking. This was the guy Natsu had wanted to punch the most, and was waiting for a lovely opportunity to present itself.

"I am," Natsu said pleasantly.

"You're guild master is already here, you need to leave," he threatened. Natsu was raised by a dragon and after all the other crap he had happen in his life, this guy trying to threaten him was hilarious.

"Sorry, I have talked with the security team and the moderator. They both agree that as long as I keep my mouth shut during sessions, I can watch over my guild master."

"Do you think she is in danger?" the guy asked.

"Possibly, it wouldn't be the first time," Natsu answered vaguely, "I think you have better ways to spend your time than interrogating me. The session begins again in thirty minutes." The man tried to leer at Natsu, he had three inches on the dragon slayer, but Natsu let his most dangerous smirk show, and the guild master was the first one to back down.

"Know your place," he growled, walking away. Natsu let out a laugh, no one would believe for a second that Natsu had lost that battle. He noticed Lucy looking his way when he laughed, and made sure to shoot her a harmless smile, saying he hadn't messed up anything for her. He saw her turn bright red and look away for some reason, hopefully there wouldn't be anymore yelling, it wasn't even his fault.

A gong rang out and the guild master's re-assembled at their seats.

"We will now re-open the session. Does anyone have any questions before we begin?" the moderator asked.

"Fairy Tail would like to put forth the motion that item 37 be voted on first," Lucy said confidently.

"Saber Tooth seconds the motion," Sting said next to her, looking bored. As bright as Lucy shone in this arena, Sting dimmed. He was meant for battle, board rooms shut him down.

"Alright, anyone opposed to the motion by Fairy Tail?" The councilman asked. He honestly looked like he would rather be anywhere but there. No one opposed the motion. First they voted to see if people were ready to vote, then guild masters all raised their hands according to their vote on the actual motion, and Natsu was surprised to see how even the results were.

"Without a 2/3rds majority, we can't come to a final decision, this will be re-visited at the third session," the moderator droned and the guild masters voted on the other eight items of business, all coming to a clean resolution, before another recess was called.

Lucy was irritated, she knew that the only reason she didn't have more support against the council was because the other guilds wanted to see Fairy Tail fall. Especially Madame Dubois. She claimed that Milianna had nothing to hide and would not suffer for a few days spent with the magic council. Everyone else was just jealous that Fairy Tail and Saber Tooth were run by the youngest and the newest guild masters, and didn't care about that actual matter at hand. Lucy had been playing this game for the entire time she had been master, but that didn't make it any better.

"Relax Lucy," Master Bob told her as she got herself a beer. She hadn't had alcohol all day, but felt the need for it.

"You don't understand exactly how many of my nakama they could get with this. We don't turn people into bunnies after they've come to us, we let them be themselves, teeth and all," she hissed, "I won't let them hurt my family."

"You think there is corruption in the council," Master Bob realized.

"I'm not willing to bet my family's lives on them having no association with Zeref, he and his followers have twisted he council to their desires too many times before. We still don't know where that bastard is and I do know that he isn't finished with Fairy Tail." Lucy said sourly.

"I agree Seventh," Mavis said at Lucy's elbow. Lucy nodded, to show she heard her first master, making sure not to freak out the others.

"How are we going to work the vote this time? I tried my best shot," Lucy asked Master Bob.

"We need to focus on the lesser guilds, the ones who won't have a chance to seize power even if Fairy Tail loses half their people. Do you know who I'm talking about?" Master Bob asked. Lucy nodded and idly fingered her keys, only to hear a screeching noise that made her flinch.

"What the?" Lucy said, grabbing the ring from her belt. Where she could normally hear the peaceful sounds of the River of Stars, or any of her spirits that wanted to talk to her, there was only static.

"Problem?" Master Bob asked, Lucy nodded and held the keys tightly between both her hands. She could make out someone's voice, but she couldn't understand the words. Natsu was by her side in an instant.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, searching for threats. People had started shifting away from the group, not liking the weapon in Lucy's hands.

"Static," Lucy said, surprised, "I'm going to call Crux, find out what the hell is going on." She walked over to a corner of the room and took a powerful summoning stance, "Open, gate of the Southern Cross," she said calmly, she could just call his name at this point, but that was no fun and no good for getting other mages to take her seriously. Natsu was next to her the entire time.

"Yes Miss Lucy?" her spirit asked, appearing easily.

"Glad to see you're okay Grandpa Crux," Lucy said with a gentle smile, "I'm hearing static from the Celestial World, is there a problem over there?" Despite Lucy stepping off to the side, she had garnered a small crowd that pretended not to be watching.

"Static? Let me see what I can find," and he proceeded to fall asleep.

"What kind of spirit is that?" someone complained, "he fell asleep on you." Lucy glared at the offender.

"I don't tell you how to split yourself Dopple, don't tell me how to deal with my spirits. He is currently searching the entirety of information available about the celestial spirit realm and communication between there and here. Show respect to my friends." Lucy was glaring at him, and he still looked disgruntled, but it didn't last long.

"AHHHHHHH!" Crux shouted, scaring everyone but Lucy into flinching a step back. Even Natsu had been startled into a fighting stance.

"There are no difficulties in the celestial realm that would make cause the disruption. There are however, several unstable time spells that would irritate the border between realms and disrupt cross-realm communication."

"Is there any way to track the wizard?" Lucy asked while everyone else was still recovering.

"I believe the static sound will get louder the closer you physically are to the caster Miss Lucy," Crux said.

"Thank you Grandpa Crux, I'll see you next week for tea if not sooner," Lucy said. The cross bowed and disappeared back to his home.

"Well crap," Lucy sighed, "it's already pretty loud, which means that the caster is in Clover, and we can't allow a bad time spell to be completed, ugh."

"Hey Lucy, I hear you have some drama, do we need to split?" Sting asked eagerly. Lucy looked around the room weighing her options.

"No, one of us has to stay here at all costs, and only I can track the mage down. I think Natsu and I can handle the crisis in under three hours, but if not we can't risk two tens being gone when the vote comes up again," she said, then faced Sting to make her words heard, "I need you to keep explaining why people who have renounced their wrongs should not come under investigation. I need to leave now or parts of reality might start to collapse."

"Why do you get to leave the meeting to beat people up?" Sting whined.

"Hey, this is just as important." Lucy ruffled Sting's hair, "Imagine what Minerva would do to you if she found out you let the Magic Council get away with taking her in for questioning." Sting shuddered and batted Lucy's hand away.

"You've made your point. Go save the day again, be back in time to make the speech." Lucy nodded and turned to a grinning Natsu.

"You ready partner?" he asked, Lucy rolled her eyes, but he could see the smile she was fighting.

"One time emergency thing," she qualified. He grabbed her hand and they raced out of there, Lucy letting out a half-protest-half-laugh in response.

**A/N: there, I hate writing my OTP fighting, but it's starting to get better. Am I the only one that thinks Lucy would be a great Guild Master? (plus she would be number Seven, and that's legit.) Yes? Whatever, I think she would, though she would also miss adventures with her team. Without that option, this is like the next best thing. Hope you guys are still reading this far. **


	4. Lucy Wins

"You sure this is it?" Natsu asked, watching Lucy walk back and forth in front of a newer apartment complex.

"Positive," Lucy said, "the caster should be in the first room, right there." She pointed to the left corner, and the two of them walked inside, weary of danger. The hall let them out exactly in front of the door and Lucy gave a tentative knock, holding her whip in one hand and keys ready in the other.

"Fac horologium vicissim reportat quod fuit." They heard from inside the room. The static sound was louder than ever, and when Natsu saw Lucy put a hand to her head, he didn't hesitate knocking down the door.

There was a kid, maybe ten years old, sitting in a circle surrounded by candles, holding a silver key.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Natsu demanded, stepping into the circle. The boy looked panicked now, he kept chanting the same line over and over again. Natsu tried to pick up the kid, but was stopped by a rune barrier. It seemed to the kind you find in stores, they could over power it with time, but Lucy knew a short-cut. Lucy stepped next to Natsu and stuck her key through it. Yep, only stops humans.

"Open, gate of the Ram," she called, and Aries appeared.

"Sorry!" she said, "what do you need Lucy?"

"Can you put some wool in his mouth to stop the spell?" Lucy said hurriedly, he was getting louder and Lucy could feel the magic in the room growing.

"Um, sure," just as she was about to shoot fluffy wool, a metal dog champed on her leg, making her squeak and evaporate.

"What the?" Natsu asked, as a whole herd of creatures made from different materials came to the aid of the young wizard.

They started attacking and together Natsu and Lucy fended off the creatures, falling into each other's attack patterns like they had never been apart.

"What are these things?" Natsu asked, burning a wooden squirrel to a crisp.

"I think he's a seith mage," Lucy commented, kicking away the metal dog that had bitten Aries, her heels leaving a huge dent. "I have an idea, let me next to the barrier and cover me." Natsu nodded and watched her in the corner of his eye as he made a shield around them of fire. Lucy would get hot, but the creatures would burn.

Her whip passed through the barrier, and with accuracy Natsu had never seen before, she snatched the silver key out of the boy's hands. The magic in the room disappeared as Lucy fingered the tarnished key.

"Hey! Give that back! I need it to save my sister!" he tried tackling Lucy, but as soon as he was outside the barrier, the black-haired kid was picked up by the back of his jacket.

"Now, what do you think you're doing casting time spells with a celestial key," Natsu asked as the boy tried and failed to escape.

"I told you, I'm saving my sister! Now let me go!"

"Where is your sister?" Lucy asked. The boy froze, and bowed his head. Lucy crouched to look at his face, only get kicked in the chest. Natsu slammed the boy against the nearest wall before pulling him back. The boy wasn't knocked out, but he was disoriented.

"That was uncalled for, don't ever kick someone trying to help you," Natsu said, holding back the majority of his anger. The makeshift animals were watching their master wearily.

"The spell would bring back my sister," the boy said again. Lucy stared at him, thinking, absentmindedly gently checking footprint on her shirt and deciding that while the shirt needed cleaning, it wouldn't even bruise. What was going on clicked, and she watched the boy struggle with sad eyes.

"You're sister is dead, isn't she?" Lucy asked, and Natsu looked at her confused. The boy didn't respond.

"Why do you think that?" Natsu asked.

"His magic level is way too high for it to be anything but spontaneous magic at this age, Mira and Erza had it, which is why they were so powerful as little kids. Only extreme situations could force magic into existence. Plus everyone knows time spells are risky, you only do that if you're desperate." The boy seemed sick of Lucy talking for him.

"There was an attack, Forest Vulcans, but they were different. These ones were crazy, they were hurting people. My dad trusted me to take care of my little sister, but they made the house catch on fire. The wooden animals my mom loved to carve came alive and helped me dig her out, but Anna wasn't breathing." The boy glared at Lucy and Natsu now.

"That spell could have saved her! It would have taken me back to the moment just before the house collapsed and I could have gotten her out quick enough. So give me back the key!" Lucy looked at the key for Pegasus in her hand. The static from the celestial world had stopped.

Something about his story sounded familiar, and it took Lucy a second to place it.

Flashback:

"Item number 26," the man droned on. The Council sent a different unlucky soul this week. Lucy was ninety percent sure the Council used being moderator at guildmaster meetings as a threat to keep their people in line. Sting was nodding off again, so she pushed her foot against his, bringing him back.

"This item regards the incident between Mermaid Heel and Saber Tooth when an emergency request was sent out to the guilds for help dealing with a Vulcan attack. Reports show that two miles before the town the groups from different guilds met and started arguing over who would get the reward for the emergency request and it escalated to physical violence. This delayed helping the village and most of it was destroyed. New legislation is being proposed to require the help of emergency requests no matter the state of the reward, and the reward will be dealt within two weeks of solving the emergency request. It will be given to the mages reported to have helped the most." Sting refused to look everyone in the eye as other people gave comments.

"Who was it?" Lucy asked under her breath.

"Yukino was planning on using Pisces," Sting mumbled back, "she was with Rufus and they were showing the ropes to a new member named Mato. She was heartbroken when she saw the damage. People crying everywhere over their lost homes."

"Well, that's what we're here to fix," Lucy replied. Focusing on the comments, being made, some of them sounded like her father, only concerned about the reward, which made her sick to her stomach. Luckily most of the comments stemmed towards helping emergency requests first, and it was decided in favor of later.

End Flashback.

She had wondered what happened to those people, now one of them was crying in Natsu's hold.

"Your spell was unstable," she said, using her magic to feel how the key was affecting the boundary between worlds, she had felt the same thing at the eclipse gate, which is one of the reasons she called on Crux back then to verify, but she recognized the feeling this time around. Being Real Nightmare for a little while had also sharpened her senses to the time discrepancies between Earthland and the Celestial World.

"The spell would have sent you back to the moment, but you would be stuck reliving the moment of her death over and over again. The spell acknowledges the permanence of time, and a silver key wielded by a non-celestial mage wouldn't be able to change anything."

"You-you're lying," the boy cried, "I have to save my sister!" Lucy noticed the clock in the room and winced, she had fifteen minutes before she had to rush back.

"Look, Lucy knows her stuff, if she says she saved you from living the worst moment of your life over and over again, you should believe her," Natsu said, releasing the boy. He shook his head in denial, but didn't attack them.

"Death is hard," Lucy said, tearing up at the sight of it breaking such a young boy, "it doesn't get better. But you know what? The dead are happy okay?" He looked up at her then, eyes red from trying not to cry.

"What?"

"The dead are at peace, or they would be if the ones they cared about lived their lives to the fullest."

"But-but, I can't just let my sister stay dead," he protested weakly. Lucy hugged him then. "I was supposed to protect her."

"You should let her be happy," Lucy said, he tried to struggle for a moment, but started holding her and crying instead.

"They can't take her away, she was so nice and excited all the time. The last thing I said to her was that she was such a slow-poke, I can't let that be the last thing I say to her." He was crying, Lucy was crying, and Natsu was crying.

"What is wrong with you?" the boy demanded, recovering first. "You're adults, aren't you never supposed to cry?" Lucy and Natsu laughed, sharing a smile.

"We get hurt too, sorry kid," Natsu said. Lucy released the boy and picked up the spell that looked torn out of a book, she folded it and tucked it into her bra.

"Hey, if you don't have anywhere to go," Lucy offered, "Want to come to Fairy Tail?"

"Why would I do that?" he said, kicking at the floor, "and my name is Kai." His stomach chose that moment to growl.

"For starters, it's a way to get money for food," Natsu said, "how about I take you out, my treat, and we can talk about it, while Lucy goes back to a very important meeting." They both watched Kia hesitate, glancing at his animated companions.

"Can I bring my friends?" he asked hesitantly. The dented dog came to his side and put his head under the boy's hand.

"Sure, the more the merrier," Natsu answered with a smile, and Kia nodded.

"Aww," Lucy said, scooping down to give Kia one last hug, "okay, I've got to run. I hope you decide to join Fairy Tail." Lucy was running out the door.

Lucy crashed into the meeting hall just as Sting was speaking about the need to show the people they can trust the mage guilds even if they have done bad things in the past, and they needed to start with wizards inside themselves. After her loud entrance, Lucy did her best to respectfully take her seat and listen to the rest of Sting's speech.

"We will now come to a vote," the moderator said, groan barely contained. "All in favor of allowing the Magic Council access to guild criminal records and instigate an investigation, please raise your hand." Lucy kept her hand down, but not enough people did, the decision wasn't a two-thirds majority yet. Lucy looked at the people voting one way or another and tried to think up a plan, a solution, anything. She wasn't opposed to violence, Fairy Tail would win hands down (every member had thrown themselves into training, even more so than before the Games), but it would suck to keep butting heads with the magic council. Believe it or not, Fairy Tail was pro Magic Council when they weren't harming their friends.

"Very well, we will reconvene tomorrow morning, have a three hour block of discussion then, and try voting again. Remember than any attempt to coerce or buy another guild master's vote is severely frowned upon and all will be subject to banishment for up to a year from meetings. Dismissed." No one was happy as they left the table, many alliances forming as people grouped together to continue speaking on the issue.

Sting slung an arm around Lucy and walked her out. She was used to his antics by now, and even welcomed the warmth of another person. People joked in master's meetings about the two of them becoming a couple and creating an unstoppable guild and what they were willing to do to stop it from happening. Magazines took it seriously and suspected they were in a secret relationship. Neither of them had tried to go for anything more though, as far as they were concerned, they were both just great friends.

"So, what was the problem?" Sting asked as they left, and Lucy sighed.

"First I need you to be thinking of counter proposals for this new law, we are getting nowhere."

Sting sighed, "Fine, I'll put my brain to the task all night, but I want to know who was messing with time spells. That's forbidden magic right there." It had been made forbidden after Hisui's screw up at the games, she herself being the largest supporter of it, instead of just a lost magic.

"It was a little kid," Lucy said absently, snuggling into Stings warmth as he lead her into a bar with awesome food they frequented after every meeting. "He lost his sister in the fire the guilds didn't stop. To get her back he wanted to re-wind time, but he was using a silver key. The imprints of the spell made it seem like the spell would actually force himself to live the moment over and over again until he died."

"Hey," Sting said, snapping his fingers in front of her face, "you stopped him though. Everything is safe? I'm betting you didn't even get the chance to show off your new magic to Natsu."

"I don't want to show off for Natsu. I want to never see him again." Lucy growled back at Sting.

"Well, that doesn't seem likely to happen," Sting snorted, tell the waitress their order. It was the same every time they came here.

"He'll get the hint eventually," Lucy assured him, "He isn't as emotionally stupid as he seems."

"Do you think you'll ever forgive him? You know what he was going through and why he did what he did." Sting frowned at his friend. Lucy knew Sting would take Natsu's side on this, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"I've forgiven him," Lucy clarified, "I just can't have him back in my life. If he's going to take off when I need him, well," she stared off in the wall, and Sting wondered what she was seeing, "I can't let anyone break me like that again." Understanding lit Sting's eyes. He remembered something Loke about Lucy, that she was not okay after Natsu left.

"Oh, I get it, you're scared," Sting said without thinking. A second later his head was being smashed into the table by a surprisingly strong celestial wizard.

"Say that again," Lucy threatened. Geeze, Sting hadn't made her this angry since he called her a sell-out after using Bob's files. Still, Sting bowed to no one, not even Lucy. He was stronger than her, dragon slayer magic made him that no matter how many crunches she did.

He used his arm strength to flip her onto their table, and held her glaring self down by her shoulders. Lucy wasn't the powerhouse that Natsu was, but she wasn't a weakling either. If they really got into it here, the place would get destroyed, They both knew it, which is why Lucy wasn't struggling. If there was a part of her mind selecting celestial spirits (Loke was out as Sting would consume his light magic) it was deep in her mind.

"You need to control that temper," Sting teased, trying to lighten the mood, they were drawing attention, "I didn't say you didn't have a right to be guarded, I said that you were scared of being hurt emotionally again. That's not a bad thing, it protects us."

Lucy searched his face upside down, looking for any hint of mocking or insincerity, but found nothing to be angry about except the truth.

"Let me up, I'll behave," she grumbled and Sting let her swing herself off the table and back into her chair.

"Touchy much?" Sting chided, accepting a drink from the waiter who decided it was safe to approach them.

"Very," Lucy seethed back, "Natsu broke promises, I've forgiven him, I understand why he did it, but nothing says I have to trust him again. It doesn't matter how many sweet things he says."

"Oh, so he is trying to charm you," Sting latched on, smirking.

"Trying being the operative word," Lucy said ruefully. She was sick of being angry all the time. "Him and Gray, I swear either I'll kill them or they'll kill me. You do know you are Natsu's replacement right?" Lucy teased. He feigned being wounded.

"Words like barbs, are you trying to hurt my feelings? Besides," and he slid closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders, "I prefer to think of it as an upgrade." Lucy laughed and pushed him off.

"Maybe telling him that you're my boyfriend will get him off my back, Loke would love to play the part too, though there are so many reasons that wouldn't work out." Lucy mused.

"Nah, Natsu's probably already going to kick my butt, he hasn't had to spend so much time sitting in boring meetings instead of training, if you're my girlfriend he'll go overboard and I might not survive. You don't want to be the reason Fairy Tail and Saber Tooth go to war, do you?"

"Nah, I need you too much on the council. Trying to train someone else would take too much effort." Their food arrived then and Sting remembered his original inquiry.

"You never told me about the rouge wizard, and I seem to remember training you those first few times," Sting said before stuffing his mouth.

"Only if you get the tab," Lucy responded with a smirk.

"Deal." Lucy took a second to figure out how much she wanted to tell her friend, and decided that everything would be best. It might help Sting become more motivated to think of new solutions for item 37.

"So, you're going to take in a kid who practiced illegal magic because he wanted to fix something that was Saber and Mermaid's fault to begin with," Sting said, relaxing in his chair, full.

"Yep, I can't let him have a record with the Magic Council, even if he chooses another guild." Lucy said, staring off again.

"No other guild would take him Lucy," Sting said suddenly, not believing she hadn't realized it yet. The confused look she gave him left him floored, how could she be so oblivious?

"A mage dies on a job and not only does it reflect badly on the guild job wise, but a life is lost. Fairy Tail is the only one who has ever risked that responsibility." Lucy shook her head.

"No, didn't you and Rogue join Saber Tooth as kids?" she asked, never quite getting the story from when she was locked in time.

"We were fifteen," Sting said, "We trained for five months and even then the master only let us in after we beat the crap out of six of his members. That's not what you're offering the kid. You're offering him adulthood and the protection of the Fairy Tail guild."

"His magic is spontaneous," Lucy said, still not looking at Sting, "It's enormous for a ten-year-old, it took Bixlow ages to reach the point he is at, and that's what makes him able to live the life of an adult. Never under estimate a kid with a desire to protect those he cares about. They turn into the Grays, Erzas, Canas, and Mirajanes. Plus we would never let him out on truly hard jobs, Mira has an accurate guess at the abilities of everyone in the guild and never lets someone take a job she knows they can't handle." Sting considered her words, would he ever be able to let a child live among the Tigers of Sabertooth? Strength was still too important of a factor in his guild, that's no way to have a kid grow up. Then he realized something.

"That's how you do it!" Sting yelled, slamming a fist on the table, startling Lucy.

"Do what?"

"Stay at the top rating! You have less members than almost every other guild, yet you get the same amount of requests filled, if not more. You're kids have to pay for themselves, so they take all the small jobs, and lots of them to make rent, get tons of experience and their names spread around, then your older members take all the hard jobs, simultaneously making them stronger than if they had the easy way out. You cheater!" Sting accused, wagging a finger at Lucy, who smiled.

"Hey, I don't know what you're talking about," she said, leaning back in her chair. Sting just glared.

"Fine, you caught me, that's not why we let kids in, but it's how it works out. Truth is, my guild is too strong. You saw us at the Games, one year isn't enough time to make that much difference in magic power, unless there really is a need to. Fairy Tail was broken, we healed stronger and were determined to never to break again. You should see the training routines of some of my guys, Tartarus would be road kill if they came at us again at the strength level they used back then. No one is going to settle for easy jobs anymore, it doesn't make them stronger, it doesn't make them strong enough to protect the ones they care about.. .People who took the easy route before know better now." Sting saw the haunting in her eyes, he had only seen it three times before. Nothing about Fairy Tail was soft, but everything was, including their guild master. It was a contradiction that boggled Sting.

She cares about people, still wore her emotions on her sleeve, but would cut someone in half if it came down to it. At the same time that her three young ones in the guild, four if the new kid joined, would find the warmest home on the face of the planet, they would be tested and put through the fire and burned into new beings of strength and power. He could see it, Lucy slowly letting them take on more difficult jobs, them watching as Fairy Tail's finest dealt with emotional trama and they inevitably lost someone from their living-on-the-edge life style. You could not ride passion your entire life and expect never to get hurt.

Fairy Tail shone brightly, but it was entirely possible they would burn out twice as fast. It was a risk they were all willing to take. Sting would protect that brightness, even if it wasn't for him. He was planning on living to a ripe old age, full of power and money, thank you very much.

"Sorry, are you ready to go?" Lucy asked, looking at her companion.

"Sure Lucy," he said, leaving the money to cover both their meals on the table with a generous tip.

"Um, sounds like Natsu and the kid are in your room, both asleep," Sting informed his friend.

"What?" Lucy said, before rushing to open the door and letting the light from the hall shine on her bed. Sure enough, there was Natsu and Kia, snuggled up and sleeping like father and son. Lucy could feel a groan coming on, but didn't want to disturb the kid. If Sting was honest and no one else would take Kia in despite his ability, she needed him to join Fairy Tail more than ever. Sting was watching her too, so she closed the door.

"I'm sleeping in your room tonight." she said, going back down the hall towards his room.

"What? No!" But it was futile. Sting was a little surprised she was okay sharing the bed with him, and while he was a little miffed he didn't have the king size all to himself, it could have been worse. Plus she smelled nice and her body heat was already warming up the bed.

Natsu would probably kill him in the morning, but it felt almost sacred, this showing of vulnerability as she breathed in little puffs, already conked out. The only people who saw you sleep in a bed were parents and lovers, he was honored she trusted him with this privilege.

"LUCY!" The shouting woke her up the next morning, she could hear Natsu running up and down the hall.

"wahh?" Sting yawned beside her. Lucy jumped, before remembering everything that had happened. "Lucy, go calm your boyfriend."

"Not my boyfriend, not my partner," Lucy grumbled, pulling the pillow over her head to muffle the noise. Natsu was pounding on their door then, yelling about how he heard Lucy's voice, and Lucy was a bit surprised it hadn't caved yet.

The pillow was ripped from her.

"Your nakama though, go shut him up," Sting glared putting the pillow over his own head and yanking the sheets off Lucy.

She grumbled about having to answer the door, but her talking seemed to silence Natsu.

"Stop screaming like a crazy person," Lucy scolded as she opened the door, using her other hand to brush her bangs out of her face. Natsu's mouth dropped open and Lucy looked down only to remember she hadn't been able to grab her own night clothes so she was sleeping in Sting's shirt. His eyes went wide.

"So, uh, you and Sting, uh, sorry, bye." He grabbed the handle and closed the door for her, before she could possibly explain, and now Lucy had a choice. Let him think her and Sting were a thing while she caught a few more hours of shut eye, or go set the record straight with one of her nakama. It was very tempting, especially since she still had no idea what to do about the proposal, and a couple of hours of sleep might make all the difference, but Sting was right. Natsu was still nakama, while he had that mark on his shoulder and long after it was gone.

_I consider everyone in Fairy Tail my friend._

Natsu's words had a habit of coming to guilt her whenever she thought about making a bad decision. Good thing Lucy was such a good girl, he didn't haunt her very often. She took her clothes from yesterday, quickly changed in the bathroom, and rushed after the dragonslayer, only stopping when she saw Kai in the breakfast buffet area.

"He went that way, Tom can show you where," and a little metal bird that was sitting on Kai's shoulder took flight. Lucy said a quick thanks before following the bird, she presumed to be Tom, out of the building. Of course the idiot headed straight for the woods, and she almost lost her guide twice before she came on him sitting by a stream on a rocky outcropping.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you Lucy, please go back to your boyfriend." Natsu said, not looking at her. It was finally time to talk.

There was a time, like last week, where Lucy imagined Natsu coming and her demanding answers, and she had a whole slew of accusation ready for when he protested. She still had enough emotional baggage to act as ammunition even against a dragon slayer. When the moment came and Natsu was actually here, turns out she was the scaredy cat that ran away. She could see it now, in the barest lean of his posture, the slight gravel to his voice. Natsu Dragneel was hurting, and hurting bad.

It was immature and selfish of her to never allow them to talk. With a deep breath, she readied herself to be hurt. Not a bracing, trying to fight feeling emotion, but a quiet acceptance and a prayer to come out the other side stronger than before.

"I think we need to talk," she said simply, dropping to the ground beside him.

"No, you're right, you usually are. I was an idiot thinking things could ever be the same. Of course you moved on, you had an entire year. It isn't fair to ask you to be the same Lucy from before. I'm not entirely the same Natsu, so…yeah."

"Why didn't you take me with you?" her small voice let slip. So that's where her emotions needed to go, because she had been planning on some nice therapist type questions first, but NOPE. Thanks mouth.

Natsu seemed startled by her question, but neither of them let their eyes stray from the brook.

"I wasn't sure I was strong enough to protect you," Natsu admitted. "I wasn't strong enough to protect anyone. I couldn't stop Erza from being tortured, or Igneel. I owe Gajeel a song because I couldn't take out a single demon on my own. You took out more demons than me, and in order for me to get to a place where I could be strong enough, I would have to put myself in circumstances just as difficult, if not worse, than Tartarus, you were so brave, I didn't want to make you go through anything hard ever again. If I lost you too…" His throat got thick and he couldn't continue.

"You are an idiot," Lucy said, resisting the urge to cry, "you didn't want to lose me, so you pushed me away first. You are an idiot."

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that." They sat in silence, listening to water.

"I thought it was because you thought I was too weak to handle what your training was, because you didn't trust me or rely on me. I thought you had lied about us being partners and were only my friend to eat my food. I thought a lot of crazy things.

I even had a couple of Yukino moments where I thought I was cursed to never be happy with a relationship. That some almighty God had decreed that all my relationships needed to end with letters that left me sobbing. Mom left me a letter you know, that's why I wrote letters back to her. All I had left of Father was a letter. All I had left of you was a letter."

"I'm sorry," Natsu said. There was nothing else he could say at this point.

"After memorizing your letter, I tossed it in the river outside my house. I thought about burning it, but that was too close to you." She hadn't told anyone about that, but Lucy wasn't sure what she was doing anymore. Hurting Natsu like she had planned so many times felt stupid and hollow, but something still needed to be said.

"You know what a river like this used to mean to me?" she asked, trying to figure out how to bring up the topic.

"I don't know, probably some deep metaphor about change."

"It used to mean safety actually," Lucy said, taking off her sandals and dipping a toe in the water. "By the time I was seven I could hold my breath for over two minutes and swim ten laps without getting winded, at ten I could swim miles and could keep my head above water in the middle of a storm. When I was thirteen, one of my closest to being successful escape attempts involved me swimming away one of the days we were at the beach for a business social, giant dress and all, and I made it twenty miles away before I was caught. I bet you can tell me how I made it that far." Natsu had no idea where this was going, but Lucy was trying to tell him something, so he clung to her every word.

"One grumpy mermaid push you that far?" He asked, trying for a joke. Lucy didn't smile, in fact, she frowned even more.

"Yeah, my grumpy mermaid. She taught me how to swim, she made sure I was good, and I tried really hard in order to impress her. It was rough whenever she washed me away, but she always stopped short of drowning me. She would blast me for the littlest of things: I wanted to have a tea party with her one time and flooded my bedroom. One day I needed to ask someone about how to get this cute kid down the street how to like me, and I turned to the one person I knew had a boyfriend. She sent a tidal wave so strong I ended up face first in the kid's front yard." Lucy had that indecipherable look on her face again, it was sad, and happy, and confused, and he didn't know what to do.

A year ago he would have put an arm around her, now he helpless.

"But that wasn't all, Aquarius taught me how to use a whip, said it was the one weapon as fluid and manageable as water, and it would get me out of anything if I knew how to use it right, she wasn't going to save me, I needed to grow up and save myself. Every year on the anniversary of Mom's death, at some point in the day, I would summon Aquarius and beg her to tell me a story about my mom. She would refuse, give me tough love, tell me to grow up and make my own stories, but each year, after she swept me away, she would tell me one story. Called it honoring Layla." Lucy took a deep breath and seemed to be bracing herself.

"Aquarius raised me, almost as much as my own mother, and I loved her. You know what it took to take down 'my demon' as you called him? I had to break all my contracts with Aquarius and her key." Natsu glanced at her hand and let his mouth drop open. Sitting in her palm, amongst all her other keys, was one shorter than the others, the prongs broken, it was tarnished, and he could make out two cracks running over the duel waves that made up the sign of Aquarius.

"Aquarius will never visit the mortal realm again, it had to be Aquarius because it would require the biggest sacrifice from me, and only through sacrifice can we hope to gain. Law of equivalent exchange, I read about it once in a book. I already had three spirits out when Aquarius asked me to break her key, I was exhausted, pushed past what I thought I was capable of, and Aquarius demanded more. She knew I needed to save Fairy Tail, that I would never be happy without my guild, that only my power could do it.

I told her how important she was to me, how much I loved her even though she hated me. She called me a hopeless, whiny, graceless brat who relied far too much on others. Said she always hated me, that I was a disappointment and that I would never come close to being like my mother. She demanded that I break her key and said she was looking forward to never having to see my face again. There were tears in her eyes as I shouted the summoning spell for the celestial king." Lucy went silent then, and Natsu tried to catch up, Aquarius was gone forever? He doubted Aquarius felt as broken up about the separation as Lucy did, but he wasn't going to tell her that. All of this Lucy suffered while he was sucked into a castle.

"What happened next?" Natsu asked, scared, but needing to know.

"It worked." she laughed humorlessly, "I summoned 'Stache face, as a parting gift Aquarius let me use a portion of her power and I killed Jakal with it. The King faced off with Marde Greer, and broke Algeria, freeing all of Fairy Tail. You showed up then, and I collapsed by the side of the fight. You were right, I did save all your asses. It took a while, but I became okay with the sacrifice, and focused on my friends. If I had to sacrifice Aquarius for them, it was not going to be in vain, and I would grow into the person Aquarius always wanted me to be, and the others could tell her all about it. I had Fairy Tail, and I had you, we would survive like a guild, as always."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Natsu asked, "Did you tell anyone?"

"I didn't want anyone to feel guilty, it was my choice and my burden; maybe I didn't want pity, maybe losing Aquarius seemed to pale in comparison to you losing Igneel, or losing the other dragons. Compared to Gray facing his father or Erza being tortured and losing her senses, I didn't want to add my pain to yours. How was I supposed to say it? I know you guys are going through really tough things, but I lost someone who was glad to be rid of me and can I please have a hug?"

"Yes! No, I mean, anything would have been better than finding out you carried this by yourself."

"Your turn," Lucy said calmly, "would it have changed you decision at all?"

"Of course it would have," Natsu said, but they both heard the tremor of doubt.

"No, I disagree, it would have been more reason to get stronger, so you could protect me in the future. You wouldn't have been able to help me through something like that while still mourning Igneel. It would have been harder to leave, but you still would have left. It kills me inside to know there was nothing I could have possibly done to make you stay. Now a stream like this means guilt and pain."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Natsu murmured automatically, no defense coming to mind. He lost all of his Lucy reading powers, but Lucy could still read him like an open book.

"I chased you down," Lucy added, "after I got your note, I ran to your house, found you not there, and kept running. Loke saved me, after I got lost and twisted my ankle. You want to know the real icing on the cake? The next day I was a mess, but I dragged my butt to the guild hall to help reconstruction, doing my best to push you to the back of my mind where I put memories of Aquarius. I knew that keeping busy with the guild was my only hope of making it through this mess. Mira saw me working and told me that Fairy Tail had been disbanded.

That guild I had been depending on to pull me through my loss of Aquarius? The guild I sacrificed so much to save? Gone anyway. Scattered to the winds, and I was going to be left alone. I lost it, I started shouting at Mira about how could Fairy Tail end? Families didn't end and Fairy Tail was family. We never listened to Makarov anyway, and what about all those stupid heiresses, running away from home with nowhere to go, those kids who lost their parents? What were they supposed to do, 'sorry, the battle was too tough?' so I worked alone. I worked alone for a month, only my spirits beside me, and only as long as I could support them. There was no one there and I cried myself to sleep every night."

Lucy was lost in sad memories, and Natsu didn't know what to do. So he sat there with her and relieved his own memories of their year apart, he would be lying if he claimed to never cried himself to sleep by himself. Igneel was gone after all, all his work, all his hope, Igneel had been inside him and then he died. Logically he was going to die a few minutes after anyway, fade with the rest of the dragons, but it wasn't the same, it wasn't peaceful. It was violent and Aconologia's fault. Lucy let out a shuddering breath, and used her unmarked hand to wipe away her tears. They had suffered so much, both of them, it wasn't fair.

Lucy looked at him for the first time since sitting down when he let out a shuddering breath of his own.

"Look at the pair of us, Fairy Tail is one messed up guild if it's strongest members are always so broken and hurt. I mean, what even are we?" Natsu started laughing then, some sobs thrown in for good measure. Finally Lucy looked confused, raising one hand swipe gently at his face, only to show him a tear from his own eye.

"Natsu?" she questioned gently as he started to sob more than laugh.

"I wanted to protect you, make sure nothing bad would ever hurt you again. I only ended up hurting you more. And look at you, you went through so much and put your energy towards helping people, opening Fairy Tail to everyone and giving them a place to come home to, where there would be no questions, only people who cared and teased like a family. You got Fairy Tail to win the Games, you became an S-class wizard, you mastered new games of politics and wrote a novel while leaning on your friends and giving support. I spent every day training to become stronger pushing myself, I found new powers, and to be honest, I could probably level Clover in under five minutes. That barrier Kai had bought? I could have destroyed it using one finger, but I didn't want to scare you, and I wanted to see what you had learned.

For all that strength, it means nothing when I think about Igneel. I want to curl up and die, I feel like that little kid that doesn't know where to go, waiting for someone to tell I'm where his father was. I can melt stone, but I couldn't protect you. I hurt you, and I am nowhere near as strong as you." Natsu closed his eyes and tried to gain control of himself. That was enough, he would deal with this on his own. Of course, that's what got him into this mess in the first place.

A hand touched his shoulder then, Lucy's slender one, it somehow managed to feel warm despite his above average body heat. He looked at her, knowing his eyes were bloodshot, feeling embarrassed about his breakdown, but unwilling to ignore someone so precious to him, a year was long enough to ignore her.

Her arms went around him then, and they finally had their reunion hug. He had waited 368 days for this, he felt Lucy shuddering in his arms, she was crying now. Hs arms supported her weight as she buried her face in his scarf; he didn't know how long they sat there, long after Lucy's tears subsided, just holding each other, letting themselves for this single moment find comfort and strength in the other that had been absent for so long.

"I should have stayed with the guild. When things are kept in the guild, they are safer and make people stronger." Lucy pulled back then, much to Natsu's dismay, but her eyes were shining in a good way.

"Say that again."

"I should have stayed with the guild?" Natsu asked.

"No, the other thing," Lucy insisted.

"When things are kept in the guild they are safe?"

"Yes! That's the counter proposal! Anyone who objects clearly cares only about standings and I can move that their votes be called selfish and bad for society. It's a dick move, but I can do it. Thank you Natsu!" Lucy squeezed him one more time before turning to put her shoes back on and running back the way they had come. She stopped herself for a second and threw him some parting words.

"By the way, nothing happened between me and Sting. He isn't my boyfriend. I don't have one, there was just no room on the bed," before continuing to run. Natsu felt a goofy grin creep up his face, and let his attention fall back to the stream for a second, only giving it his full attention when he saw the fluttering of a wing and a tail. He could have sworn he saw a fairy just then, something only his newly trained senses could catch.

He let the mystery go for now, and took it as an omen.

Fairy Tail would turn out alright. Him and Lucy would turn out alright. They always did.

"May I speak?" Lucy asked the moderator. He sighed, and Lucy took that as a yes.

"The current proposal obviously isn't working, I would like to create a counter offer to the Magic Council. We as guilds will keep records of the activity of our members, but while they reside in a legal guild the Council has no access to those records. When a mage goes freelance and leaves a guild, we will then turn the records over for scrutiny. If the mage switches guilds, the records transfer to the new guild, but not to the Magic Council. That way they can keep track of rogue mages, but it shows trust in the guilds as they are now."

"All in favor of Guild Master Lucy's counter proposal?" the council representative said, done with everything. They won two-thirds and the motion was passed.

"Nice save there Lu," Sting cheered, "now we can leave and Minerva won't roast me." They partied then for another hour, as was tradition for guild masters to do.

Lucy returned late that night, slightly tipsy, but smart enough to down water to reduce her hangover the next morning. She saw both Natsu and Kia curled up on the bed, and she thought about going to Sting's again, but was really tired. Instead she got Natsu's blanket and set up on the floor like she had done so many times before in her own apartment. She wasn't ready to give Natsu his spot back in her life, but she was ready to let him try. Maybe she would risk being hurt again, maybe she didn't have to cut him out of her life to stay sane.

Maybe things could be just as good, if not better than before.

Only one way to find out.

**A/N: There you have it, I hope this fixed a lot of the problems you guys had with this story. I have a bonus chapter full of scenes from the year Lucy has been guild master that I will probably post (Lucy discovering her star dress, Lucy's S class trial and the Grand magic games, expect a big chapter). Maybe I will continue it after that, give Gray an alternate line, but really this story is about Lucy healing from being abandoned. So that really depends on my muse. Thank you so much for making me clean up this sorry story, you guys knew I was capable of better material, so thanks for that. **


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